A military motorcade carried the remains of Cuban revolutionary hero Juan Almeida Bosque through the streets of the eastern city of Santiago on Tuesday, while thousands of mourners lined the route, some clutching flowers and wiping away tears.

A jeep with the coffin ringed by white flowers traveled from Santiago's airport to Cespedes Park and many other places in the island's second-largest city that had been frequented by Almeida when he lived there and helped spark the armed rebellion that brought Fidel Castro to power on New Year's Day 1959.

It traveled more than 75 miles (120 kilometers), past residents and state employees, and also stopped at the Moncada, a sprawling military barracks where Castro led Almeida and a small band of rebels in an attack on the Cuban army in 1953. The operation was a disaster and resulted in the deaths of many participants, but it planted the seeds for the movement that would eventually topple dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Almeida, one of several Cuban vice presidents, died Friday of a heart attack at 82. He was one of three surviving rebel leaders with the honorary title "Commander of the Revolution."

About 40 other fighters from the revolution have also been laid to rest in the same area.

Source: AP