
Upon the news of the death of Fidel Castro on Friday (Nov. 25), Gloria Estefan’s “Mi Tierra” (My Homeland) soundtracked celebrations of his passing all throughout the Cuban community of Miami.
The 1993 single lives on her Mi Tierra album and serves as a tribute to Cuba and the exiles directly affected by the Castro regime. The song was written by her husband Emilio Estefan who, like Gloria, was an exile from the island at just 2 years old. Her father, José Manuel Fajardo, was a bodyguard of former Cuban U.S.-backed president, Fulgencio Batista.
Gloria took to Instagram after learning of Castro’s passing to express her feelings toward El Comandante‘s death. In a lengthy post she wrote: “Although the death of a human being is rarely cause for celebration, it is the symbolic death of the destructive ideologies that he espoused that, I believe, is filling the Cuban exile community with renewed hope and a relief that has been long in coming.”
Castro’s death—mourned or celebrated—has shaken the world.