A prelude: Miami streets burst with spontaneous joy.

For two generations, Cuban Americans in Miami have waited patiently for the news that reached them through cellphones, televisions, BlackBerries and radios Monday night: Fidel Castro is no longer the leader of Cuba.

At least temporarily.

But the disclaimer meant little to the thousands who took to the streets, oozing 47 years of pent-up joy as they leaned madly on car horns to awaken anybody who may not have heard:

Fidel Castro, suffering from a serious illness, ceded power Monday night to his brother, 75-year-old Raul Castro, the leader of Cuba’s armed forces.

Minutes after the announcement from Havana, news spread like electronic wildfire, with countless hands reaching simultaneously for telephones and television remotes. Nostalgia clashed with disbelief in an electrified Miami.

”We just wish [Castro] a slow and painful death,” said Lourdes Cambo, outside Versailles restaurant in Little Havana.