A Fitting Farewell for Salsa’s Queen

Mourners danced and music filled the air as about 100,000 fans, who had waited hours in the hot South Florida sunshine Saturday, paid homage to salsa legend Celia Cruz.

“She was Cuba’s gift to the world,” said Blanca Casa, who left the island in 1970. “She is the Cuban symbol, like the flag. I’m so proud of her.”

Cruz, the “Queen of Salsa” who recorded more than 70 albums, died Wednesday at age 77 of a brain tumor.

A line three-deep in some spots extended half a dozen blocks for much of the day outside the viewing at Miami’s Freedom Tower, once the processing center for hundreds of thousands of Cuban exiles.

Many of the mourners protected themselves from the sun with umbrellas, while water and soft drink vendors did a brisk business.

Hawkers sold Cuban flags. A huge Cuban flag hung down more than a third of the 17-story tower.

Cruz fled Cuba in 1960, a year after Fidel Castro’s revolution. The playing of her music was long banned on Cuba’s official radio and television stations.

“I was 5 when I passed through where Celia lies now,” said a teary Orlando Gomez, 38, who had a Cuban flag draped over his shoulders like a cape. “We miss her so much.”

“I’m devastated by the loss,” added his wife, Maria, 32, who was born in Miami.

More than 650,000 Cubans and Cuban Americans live in the greater Miami area, as do 640,000 residents from other Latin American countries.

“I went to the Freedom Tower because I loved her,” said Rick Cardenas, a 42-year-old Colombian. “She was a humble person who never let success get to her head.”

Another fan, Socorro Monterrubeo, 54, from Mexico, had never seen Cruz perform. “I’ve got to see her to say goodbye,” she said. “Celia sang for the entire world.”

Many of the mourners cried as they passed single file by the casket, which was draped with a Cuban flag. Some shouted, “Viva Cuba!”; others sang “La Guantanamera,” the island’s most celebrated song, and danced to the music.

“Celia wanted people to be happy at her funeral,” said Maria Elena Ayus, 67, a Costa Rica native married to a Cuban, Manuel, who left Cuba in 1963. “They danced in front of her casket for her.”

“Celia represented our Latin being,” said Rosalina Medina, 53, from Venezuela. “We love Celia as if she were from our soil.”

Cruz’s body, which was flown from her home in Fort Lee, N.J., for the viewing, was to be returned to New York for burial.

During her career, Cruz won two Grammys and three Latin Grammys. Some of her hits, including “Quimbara,” “Cucala” and “Bemba Colora,” became salsa standards. She also appeared in several films, and earned a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

“We danced to her music in Cuba in the late ‘50s,” said Tomas Chao, 64, who came from Weston, Fla., with his wife, Maria, 63, for Saturday’s viewing. “We’ve seen her shows in Washington, Baltimore and Orlando. We owe it to her to be here.”