boats across the state of florida. many of them made homes in little havana in miami. amid cheers and banging of pots and pans, cnn s chris moody joins us live. chris, how are people reacting and why are they reacting this way? well, it was not long after the announcement of fidel castro s death that people here in miami began to pour into the streets here in the little havana neighborhood where so many cuban exiles have called home. it was a feeling of celebration. people were marching through the streets here. banging pots and pans. noisemakers, drums, dancing. popping champagne bottles. i saw people holding up their phones doing facetime for family members that have moved maybe to europe and abroad, so that they could see this occasion that they ve waited for for so long. we ve talked to people, the reason that so many feel so joyful, for many people in this community of exiles here, they
before that from first grade, starting in elementary, they hear that the greatest historical figure in the world has been fidel castro and that s what they hear year after year after year. so all of those people composing the communist congress in cuba follow, like i said before, the same political persuasion. but, you know, rafael, as i hear you explain it to us the question it raises for me is how long can the system continue as it is in cuba? i understand that the politics of cuba are bigger than one man, but when that person casts such a long shadow over the entire contrary history of a country and he passes away, there comes a point and his brother is elderly now. there comes a point where the system doesn t perpetuate itself as much or if at all, when, you know, the founder is gone. a lot of people thought the system was going to collapse under its own weight after the ussr collapsed in the early
to be in the hours and days to come? i think it will be an experience of intense emotion, especially here in the united states for millions of cuban exiles who called the united states home for such a long time and now many of these people we re talking about and i m speaking on a couple of levels, as the son of cuban exiles an a reporter who has had the privilege of keeping changes firsthand between the united states and cuba over the course of the last couple of years. it has been a fascinating experience. speaking to the first part of that, for millions of cuban exiles, many of them, we re talking about my grandparents generations who left thinking they would perhaps be gone a short time for cuba an then, you
had to leave their country that had their very painful experiences to tell. then you have people on the island who revere fidel castro. it s not going to be an seize process. they had anticipated that this would happen. and we ll see, but an important part of what cuba means to the u.s. is that once u.s. starting normalizing relations with cuba, it changed the whole dynamic of the relations with latin america. so latin america respected fidel castro and this part helped the u.s. as it was portrayed in latin america. juan carlos thank you so very much. up next, we want to talk a little bit more about fidel castro s defiant legacy. we re going to look back at his remarkable rise to power.
i have lived, feel. reporter: that latter statement seems i ronnic coming from a man who almost single-handedly dictated over cuba for nearly half a century. joining us now, an expert in cuban history and national politics. he s a professor. thank you for joining us. let s get your personal thoughts on the death of fidel castro. well, first of all, i want to correct that it s the university of new york. professor of universities of new york at jon jay college. i slept through it this morning. i don t think it will have a great deal of impact on cuba,