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HAVANA — There will be no Fidel Castro streets or plazas in Cuba, in keeping with the late revolutionary leader’s wishes, as spelled out in a law Cuban legislators passed yesterday.
President Raul Castro, 85, said that before dying at the age of 90 on November 25, his brother Fidel had requested that no monuments or statues be erected in his honor, and that no streets or buildings be named after him.
Lawmakers adopted the bill implementing his wish unanimously yesterday.
While he was an omnipresent figure in the lives of Cubans after taking power in 1959, Fidel Castro always opposed the erection of statues in his likeness. No streets or buildings are named after him in the Communist-led Caribbean country.
He also decreed that his name and image not be used for commercial or advertising purposes.
However, he did make an exception that would allow artists to use his name, people to cite it at political rallies and workplaces, and for a research institute on his role in history to bear his name.
Official media reports did not immediately make clear what penalties those breaking the law would face. — AFP
