By — PBS News Hour PBS News Hour By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/castros-funeral-procession-retraces-revolutions-route Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio Fidel Castro’s ashes began a lengthy procession through Cuba on Wednesday, mirroring the legendary leader's post-revolution journey in 1959. At the time, Castro depicted himself as a national savior -- a view some Cubans still hold today. Hari Sreenivasan speaks with special correspondent Nick Schifrin in Havana for a report on the response to Castro’s death and hopes for the country’s future. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. HARI SREENIVASAN: The ashes of the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro began a long procession across the island nation today, from Havana to Santiago, where Castro declared victory in the revolution he led in 1959.His funeral will be held there Sunday, ending nine days of mourning since his death last Friday."NewsHour" special correspondent Nick Schifrin is in Havana reporting for us this week, joins me now.Nick, let's talk a little bit about the route. Why is it so significant? NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes, Hari, it's the same route that he took in 1959, only in reverse.And it's really that trip that cemented Fidel Castro as a kind of heroic figure in Cuba, almost a destined savior of the country. That's certainly the image that he tried to portray, came in on a boat, descended from the mountains, won battles and won over people with his speeches, tried to really portray himself as a messiah for the country. And at least along the route today, that image of him really survives. HARI SREENIVASAN: There aren't a lot of freedoms to speak out against the government, but what are people along the route saying? NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes.Along the route, people use the same exact words, my leader, my father. And even critics of Fidel Castro say that those sentiments are genuine after so many decades of his rule. For example, Hari, I talked to one family, three generations.The uncle used to be a Castro bodyguard. The grandmother told me that Castro gave her more opportunities. An aunt told me that he really believed in human rights. And the granddaughter, 23-year-old Giselle Gallego, said that the revolution should go on, the ideals should go on, and that there shouldn't be drastic change in Cuba, even though the father of the revolution has now died. HARI SREENIVASAN: Did you hear any voices of dissent? NICK SCHIFRIN: Yes. They are few and far between, but they are important to listen to.And I spoke to one dissenter, as he calls himself, just a few hours ago. His name is Carlos Miraros Falcon. He says there is no freedom of speech and no freedom of multiple parties.And what that means, Hari, is that the criticism of the government remains rare and that the opposition remains fractured. And I asked him whether there is any chance of change now that Fidel Castro is dead. He said most likely not. That's because Fidel's younger brother Raul has been running the country as president since 2008.But he did point to one date, 2018. That is the year that Raul Castro promises to step down. One of two things could happen there. He will step down, but he will remain head of the party. That means more status question.Or it is possible, this dissident said, that Raul could step down and there could be an opposition leader who emerges. HARI SREENIVASAN: When you talk to people on the route, they're very quickly aware that you're an American. Does the conversation walk into the territory of the new president-elect? NICK SCHIFRIN: Look, I think that there have been changes over the last few years. And more Americans have been here, so they're more used to us.Certainly, there is some fear of president-elect Trump, most specifically because there is mostly unanimity over the deal that Raul Castro and President Obama struck in the last couple years, a kind of detente, and they don't want president-elect Trump to take that away.But critics do point out one thing, that there have been four times as many detentions this year already as in all of 2010. That's according to the Cuban Human Rights and National Reconciliation Commission.And those people who point that out point to President-elect Trump's tweets saying that he would terminate the deal unless Cuba is willing to improve it. There are some people who are hoping he actually does that, but, in general, people want the trend of the last few years to continue. HARI SREENIVASAN: Nick Schifrin joining us from Havana tonight, thank you. NICK SCHIFRIN: Thanks, Hari. Listen to this Segment Watch Watch the Full Episode PBS NewsHour from Nov 30, 2016 By — PBS News Hour PBS News Hour By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin is PBS NewsHour’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent. He leads NewsHour’s daily foreign coverage, including multiple trips to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, and has created weeklong series for the NewsHour from nearly a dozen countries. The PBS NewsHour series “Inside Putin’s Russia” won a 2017 Peabody Award and the National Press Club’s Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence. In 2020 Schifrin received the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Media Award for Distinguished Reporting and Analysis of Foreign Affairs. He was a member of the NewsHour teams awarded a 2021 Peabody for coverage of COVID-19, and a 2023 duPont Columbia Award for coverage of Afghanistan and Ukraine. Prior to PBS NewsHour, Schifrin was Al Jazeera America's Middle East correspondent. He led the channel’s coverage of the 2014 war in Gaza; reported on the Syrian war from Syria's Turkish, Lebanese and Jordanian borders; and covered the annexation of Crimea. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his Gaza coverage and a National Headliners Award for his Ukraine coverage. From 2008-2012, Schifrin served as the ABC News correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2011 he was one of the first journalists to arrive in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after Osama bin Laden’s death and delivered one of the year’s biggest exclusives: the first video from inside bin Laden’s compound. His reporting helped ABC News win an Edward R. Murrow award for its bin Laden coverage. Schifrin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member of the Overseas Press Club Foundation. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). @nickschifrin