lifting prohibitions. as always he claimed to know best. known for ever present cigar, beard, fatigues and marathon speeches remain a thorn in the side of dozens of u.s. presidents. not a cia plot that removed him finally but botched stomach surgery. near death turned reins over to brother raul. once a force in public life but now infirm retreated from public spotlight. made an pa appearance for them to remain loyal it the revolution after his death. soon i ll be like everybody else. everyone s turn comes. few monuments to castro, no streets named after him. unlike other strong men avoided appearance of cult of
prohibitions on life in cuba. as always, castro claimed he knew best. known for his ever present cigar, beard, fatigues and marathon speeches, fidel castro would remain a thorn in the side for ten u.s. presidents. it wasn t a cia that forced him from pow eveer but a botched sth surgery. he turned the reins over to his brother raul. a now weak and informed castro retreated from the spotlight. he made a rare public appearance to call on communist party officials to remain loyal to his revolution after his death. soon i will be like all the rest castro told officials, everyone s turn comes. in cuba, there are few monuments to fidel castro. no streets are named after him unlike other strong men, the cuban leader avoided appearance.
fidel castro spanned seven decades and 11 u.s. presidents. he outlived six of those presidents including john f. kennedy, richard nixon and ronald reagan. we want to brink in douglas brinkley joining us by phone. douglas, your reaction that so many are waking up to the news that fidel castro has died. well, it s you know, nobody should be surprised. his health has been deteriorating for some while. he hasn t wanted to be photographed very often. he s been overseeing a new opening in his country with his brother raul which president obama seemed to take some advantage of and the fact that americans can now go and travel to cuba. i teach at rice university in houston, and a group of our college baseball players are headed right now to play the first college baseball series in cuba. so, things have changed but the
brother raul his successor. the cold era ruled lived long enough to see the relationship with the united states. joins me now is christiane amanpour in london. first, let me get your reaction, christiane. martin, it was inevitable, 90 years old, he outlasted ten u.s. presidents but the last one, barack obama outlasted him and changed the dynamic, since 1959, when cuba came under castro s control and re-established those diplomatic relations with cuba. it remains to be seen whether that will ever happen in the foreseeable future. of course, castro but a
expect that raul castro could fall or the cuban government is in danger of collapse their hopes are too high. they have had a long time to prepare for this and it is an island that is tightly controlled and probably tonight is more controlled than ever. last week, they were going through island wide military exercises. i fully expect the cuban military and government is on high alert tonight looking for any dissent or threats, internal or external. it will be a tense time the next few days. again, raul castro, though he is 85 he is very much in control and will be showing his influence and the fact he has a tight grasp of power. raul castro, the leader and in control of the nation, but raul castro leading a population, as you point out, not all are revolutionaries. many are people more interested