Cuban-Americans have taken to the streets of Miami to celebrate the death of Fidel Castro

As Cuba begins nine days of official mourning over the death of its former leader, Fidel Castro, Cuban-Americans around the world have taken to the streets to celebrate the late revolutionary's passing.

The scene is most dramatic in Miami, where many Cuban exiles settled after Castro overthrew the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and ruled with an iron fist for nearly half a century.

"This is a celebration, but not a celebration of death, but a beginning of liberty that we've been waiting for many years. The hope is ... that it opens up Cuba a little bit more," a Cuban-American man told CNN.

"It means a lot for us Cubans," another reveler told CNN affiliate WSVN-TV.

"It's a moment that we've been waiting for for 55 years. We're free at last. The man that caused so much suffering, so much people to be sad in my country ... has passed away."

To exiles, Castro embodied a heavy-handed regime that jailed political opponents, suppressed civil liberties, and wrecked the island's economy. Many risked their lives trying to flee Cuba in the early years of Castro's rule, including thousands of unaccompanied Cuban children sent by their parents to Miami between 1960-1962 in a mass exodus known as Operation Pedro Pan (Peter Pan).

Carlos A. Gimenez, mayor of Miami-Dade county, tweeted on Saturday that Castro's passing "closes a very painful chapter for Cubans on the island and Cuban-Americans throughout the world."