The horns were honking in Little Havana this morning as news spread that Cuban President Fidel Castro had officially resigned power after 49 years of running Communist Cuba just 90 miles off the shores of the United States.

According to the AP motorists honked vigorously at police patrol cars and television reporters as they waited for local eateries to open.

There are some 1.5 million  Cubans and Cuban-Americans living in the U.S. two-thirds of them in Florida and the majority in Miami-Dade County.

Most likely Castro’s 76-year-old brother Raul will succeed him.

Miami has become a mostly Hispanic, bustling city, a hub for international trade and finance, poverty is also present and Spanish is spoken everywhere.

The people here do not believe that the resignation will bring any change to the communist island.

Most exiles see Castro as a ruthless dictator and that any change in Cuba would have to come from within the military.

President George W, Bush said he hopes the resignation signals the beginning of a democratic transition.