Cubans are rejoicing and mourning: the decades-long leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro, died last week. There are many different opinions on this controversial commander-in-chief. Some say they are overjoyed the world is rid of him; others have started their nine-day mourning period on Saturday.

Castro was 90 years old. He passed away November 25 at 10:29 PM, said his brother Raul Castro in a televised speech announcing his death. His body was cremated and his ashes will be taken along the celebratory route he took across Cuba after claiming power in 1959. There will then be a funeral at a cemetery in Santiago de Cuba.

According to a young resident of Cuba, “the Cuban people are feeling sad because of the loss of our commander in chief Fidel Castro Ruz, and we wish him, wherever he is, that he is blessed, and us Cubans love him.”

The feelings were very different in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. People celebrated for days, waving Cuban and American flags and singing joyously. Exiled Cubans popped champagne, cheered, and stood outside the frequented Versailles restaurant waving signs that read, “Satan, Fidel is now yours.”

A Cuban-American man told reporters, “This is a celebration, but not a celebration of death, but a beginning of liberty that we’ve been waiting for 55 years. We’re free at last. The man that caused so much suffering, so much people to be sad in my country has passed away.”

Castro was almost considered to be untouchable. Six hundred assassination attempts are thought to have been made on him, and he defied a US economic embargo which “intended to dislodge him” and continued to rule Cuba for almost 50 years.

Before he died, he lived to see a historic meeting nobody thought would ever take place – the United States and Cuba reestablishing diplomatic relations in July 2016 and a visit from President Barack Obama.

President Obama released a statement in which he offered condolences to the Cuban people, extending “a hand of friendship.”

“History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him,” said Obama. That it will.