Cuban President Raul Castro signed a contract of allegiance to the country's revolution during a ceremony in Havana to pay his final respects to his brother and predecessor Fidel Castro, who ruled for half a century and resisted the United States throughout the Cold War.

Castro died on Friday at the age of 90, a decade after stepping down due to poor health and ceding power to his brother.

Castro was admired by leftists and people of the developing world who saw him as a revolutionary champion of the poor, but he was vilified by many who viewed him as a dictator who oppressed Cubans and ruined the economy through socialism.

His death has removed any impediment on Raul Castro to pursue deeper relations with Washington if US President-elect Donald Trump warms to the idea of improved ties.

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