IN MEMORIAM: THE QUEEN OF SALSA, CELIA CRUZ IS DEAD!

Cuban exiles in Miami have been mourning the loss of legendary salsa singer Celia Cruz.

The "Freedom Tower" in Miami, where Cuban migrants were processed during the first wave of exiles after President Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, flew its Cuban flag at half-staff. Mourners laid flowers at a small stone marked with the singer's name in Little Havana, the neighborhood viewed as the heart of Miami's Cuban community. But in Havana, the tributes were more muted with the Communist Party newspaper calling the Cuban-born singer an "important" performer in a two-paragraph story. Cruz's music was banned in Cuba after she left the island in 1959. 

"I don't want to say that we've lost Celia because her music, her spirit and her 'azucar' will always be with us," said Cuban-born singer Gloria Estefan, referring to Cruz's exuberant shout of "azucar", Spanish for "sugar". I am sad and I miss her a lot," said a 72-year-old exile who identified himself only as Mr. Martinez. He had traveled the 225 miles from his home in Orlando, Florida, to attend a church service in Cruz's honor on Thursday.

 

Continues on the next page.