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Fidel Castro, the late leader of the Cuban Revolution, built a soccer field for poor kids of the neighborhood he lived in just two weeks before his death.
Fidel, who led Cuba's 1959 revolution and for five decades defied U.S. efforts to topple him, died on Nov. 25 at age 90.
He lived on the western edge of Havana in a house adjacent to a typical Cuban neighborhood called Jaimanitas.
One of Fidel's final acts was to order a soccer field built for the youth in Jaimanitas, where he periodically stopped to talk with the people, according to neighbors.
According to several people, Fidel stopped his car in the neighborhood to greet kids playing soccer who told him there were no places to play.
"He was interested in this, asking, 'What do you mean there's nowhere to play soccer?' And the next day they were clearing the field," said neighbor Rafael Sierra.
Yossiel Calvo, a 13-year-old eighth-grader, grew excited when talking about his brush with the late Cuban revolutionary leader.
"I spoke with him about a month ago," he said. "He said he was going to make a soccer field for us, and he did it. They're working on it now."
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