Castro's past puts city on the map

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba - If the central Cuban city of Villa Clara is inextricably linked to Che Guevara, the iconic Argentine guerrilla leader, then Santiago de Cuba can be considered Fidel Castro's city.

The remains of the legendary revolutionary and longtime Cuban leader rest at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery on the outskirts of the city of nearly half a million people, contained inside a large rock brought from the Sierra Maestra Mountains, where Castro led the guerrilla movement that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

Today, the monolith is visited by about 2,000 people every day and has become a place of pilgrimage for Castro's admirers from around the world.