“A man so large in a box so small – it really impacts you.” –Maria Aleisy Hernandez, watching the cortege of Fidel Castro’s urn on television
The sight of United States President John F. Kennedy’s flag draped casket, rolling down the streets of Washington on the horse drawn caisson, is a vivid memory. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s caisson has a similar unforgettable image.
When a current or former world leader, still present in the news, dies, the sight of an urn being borne through the streets is unfamiliar.
Fidel Castro’s death on November 25 was treated as if he was still Cuba’s President. His protracted illness and his many statements on anticipating his own death, kept him in the news. His brother and successor, President Raul Castro announced his death stating, “According to the will expressed by Comrade Fidel, his body will be cremated in the early hours (of November 26).”
Leaders, who have assumed their power by force in a dictatorship fashion, usually have their remains preserved to keep their legacy perpetual.
Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Russian Communist Party, assumed power through the Bolshevik Revolution, wanted his regime to endure. After his death in 1924, his remains were embalmed with great care and placed on display to keep the citizens loyal to their new government. High maintenance and much experimentation have kept Lenin available for viewing. Monumental changes in the Russian government and declining interest in having his body on display have not prevented this ongoing viewing.
Russian Leader Joseph Stalin, who died in 1953, was placed in Lenin’s tomb to be viewed perpetually. Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev released Stalin’s writing and the history of atrocities committed during the Stalin years. His remains were quietly removed in 1961 and placed in a tomb with other leaders’ remains, near the Kremlin.
Argentina’s First Lady Eva Peron had quite a post mortem journey. Her death in 1952 at age 33 left her a popular figure. Three years after her death, her body was taken in the aftermath of the coup of her husband, President Juan Peron, now in exile. The new leaders didn’t want her remains to be a reminder to the public of her work with the poor. The deceased Eva Peron was stored in various places until a Vatican emissary intervened in 1957. She was buried secretly in Milan. Her memory became larger and the question of where her remains were became incessant. In 1970 another coup and 1971, a pro-Peron organization was able to find her burial spot and returned her to General Peron, living in exile in Spain. They treated the body and noted that one finger was cut off; supposedly for the kidnappers to know it was truly the former First Lady’s remains. There appeared to be abuse to the body. In 1973, Peron was elected again as President. His third wife Isabel assumed the presidency the next year after Juan’s death. She repatriated Eva’s casket from Madrid to Argentina. A restoration expert (of antiques and supposedly human remains), Domingo Tellechea, began her reconstruction. Her feet needed much attention as she had been stored in an upright position. He suspected the dent in her nose was from a too shallow casket.
When the restoration was complete, Eva was again displayed next to the closed casket of her husband Juan. Domingo Tellecha was threatened for the work he performed as the political climate was changing.
A military coup in 1974, Isabel Peron was out. Eva Peron’s casketed body was taken in October 1976 to Buenos Aires and interred in a very secure, virtually untouchable grave in Recoleta Cemetery.
Democratic Republic of Vietnam leader Ho Chi Minh has been on view since his death in 1969 (his tomb and body under current restoration).
China Communist leader Mao Zedong (Chairman Mao), has been in public repose since 1977 in a mausoleum in Tiananmen Square. His initial embalming did not go well as the injection made him bloated. Methods of tissue reduction including massage were used. Reportedly a wax duplicate was made if ever necessary.
Ferdinand Marcos, deposed president of the Philippines was carefully embalmed after his death in Hawaii in 1989. His widow Imelda had his body on display at her home until she was able to bring him back to the Philippines in 1993. He had been on display in a public mausoleum in the country’s Northwest. On December 4, 2016, he was allowed to be buried in the national heroes’ cemetery. Many protests were held as a “simple soldier’s burial” (the family’s description) was held.
Late Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong II, who died in 2011, is on display in the Kumsusan mausoleum, the former presidential palace.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was a great friend of Fidel Castro. When he died in 2013 of colon cancer, the plan became to have him placed on permanent display. Vice President Nicolas Maduro said, “We have decided to prepare the body of our ‘Comandante President,’ to embalm it so that it remains open for all time for the people. Just like Ho Chi Minh. Just like Lenin. Just like Mao Zedong,” Maduro said.
When we wonder why these countries do this, we must consider our own history. When President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, the country was healing from the great trauma of the Civil War.
“Let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds,” the late President said in his Gettysburg Address.
His journey from Washington, DC to Springfield, Illinois went through one hundred and eighty cities and seven states and 1,700 miles. Funerals and open casket viewings were held in many cities.
So why did Fidel Castro decide to be immediately cremated? First, his brother Ramon, who died in February 2016, was cremated. Fidel, this Jesuit schooled leader became an atheist in his revolution conversion. In his reign, he banned Church activities though he later met with visiting Popes. It was thought this may be his affront to the Catholic Church. The Vatican, in October 2016, re-stated its teachings on cremations. In short, cremation is allowed as long it is not done as a denial of Church doctrines. The body has been the temple of the Holy Spirit and is sacred. Scattering, division of the remains, keeping the urn at home are not accepted by the Church. Permanent placement in a niche or grave is.
Fidel Castro is doing that. His urn took a reverse route of the one he followed from Santiago to take power in Havana in 1959. His flag draped wooden urn was in a glass case on a trailer being pulled by a military jeep as thousands lined the route.
The private inurnment takes places in Santa Ifgenia Cemetery near the crypt of Cuban patriot and poet Jose Marti. The cemetery also is the resting place of Emillio Bacardi y Moreau. They were both casket burials.
We have not had a president on permanent display nor have we had a president cremated. In this age of breaking precedent at the highest levels, we will have one or the other.
With great dismay, I predict it will be the latter rather than the former.
“A lot of this is (about) contributing to the mystique of the state. That you can point to the father of your nation and say, “Look, he’s still there. He’s still with us. We are still ruling in his name. We are the legitimate heirs to his power.” –Troy University professor Brendan Howe