French Environment Minister Segolene Royal, representing her government at a tribute for Fidel Castro in Cuba, defended the late communist leader's human rights record on Saturday, questioning whether the regime imprisons dissidents.

Cuban President Raul Castro pledged Saturday to uphold his brother Fidel's socialist revolution at a massive rally in honor of the communist icon before his burial.

Tens of thousands of flag-waving supporters recited the oath with Raul Castro at the Revolution Plaza of Santiago de Cuba, the cradle of Fidel's guerrilla struggle.

A military jeep carried the ashes of Fidel Castro along streets lined with hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Cubans in Havana on Wednesday, starting a four-day journey to his final resting place across the island.

After two days of tributes to the late communist icon in Cuba's capital, the "caravan of freedom" departed on a 950-kilometer (590-mile) trek retracing the route of the revolution's victory tour of 1959.

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday threatened to end the U.S. thaw with Cuba unless Havana makes key concessions, a move that would upend the historic rapprochement engineered under his predecessor Barack Obama.

"If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal," Trump said on Twitter.

While Cuban-Americans partied in the streets of Miami after Fidel Castro died, dissidents in Cuba stayed home, fearing more repression though some hope his brother Raul will enact reforms.

A page in Cuba's history has turned with the death of its revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. So what happens now on the communist island?

The Caribbean nation is at a crossroads. Fidel Castro's successor Raul Castro has said he himself plans to stand aside in 2018.

The death of Cuba's Fidel Castro prompted reaction across the spectrum Saturday with some world leaders describing him as a friend and ally, while rights groups recalled his repression of basic freedoms.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heads to Cuba Tuesday as the breakthrough in U.S. relations with the communist regime hangs in the balance following Donald Trump's presidential election win.

The United States has tapped Jeffrey DeLaurentis, America's top diplomat in Havana, to become the first official ambassador to Cuba in five decades.

"The appointment of an ambassador is a commonsense step forward toward a more normal and productive relationship between our two countries," President Barack Obama said in a statement.

Fidel Castro appeared in state-run media Monday for the third time in less than a week, which is extremely rare for the father of the Cuban revolution.

Castro, 90, who ceded power to his brother Raul in 2006, received visiting Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang at home on Sunday.