Gustavo Petro praises Castro's tyranny in Cuba, gets criticised for doing so from the capitalist New York

Colombian President Gustavo Petro posted a tweet praising Castro's tyranny in Cuba. The message provoked many adverse reactions, which rebuked him for trying to whitewash one of the bloodiest regimes on the continent.

"The Castros took care that the children had food, health and education," Petro said on X (formerly Twitter), in a post against former President Iván Duque.

Duque's message, to which Petro reacted, questioned the position of the current government for its alliance with Russia and its sympathy for Havana: "They condemn the Pinochet dictatorship, but they idolize the dictatorship of the Castros and their heirs. They remain silent in the face of Russia's genocide in Ukraine and legitimize the ELN's [Ejército de Liberación Nacional]crimes against humanity, calling them revolutionaries. They want to equate Israel's democracy with Putin's oppression, and call their opponents versions of Hitler, while justifying massacres, kidnappings and institutional takeovers for 'political' reasons. Such are demagogues with their double standards."

Petro's publication provoked the ire of those who consider the whitewashing of the Castro regime unacceptable.

Argentine activist Agustín Antonetti wrote: "You are a despicable human being. If I put what I think of you they will close my account. You are a garbage of a person. No one with a modicum of humanity can say that Fidel Castro 'took care' of Cuban children. He is unforgivable."

One of the strongest reactions was that of the renowned journalist and director of the magazine Semana, Vicky Dávila:

Gustavo Petro, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, received strong criticism because just hours after publishing the tweet about Cuba, a photograph of him was leaked in a Broadway theater.

"There you have it, Petro's guerrilla defending the atrocities of the Castros and the more than 70 years of Cuban dictatorship from Broadway in New York. The poor in Colombia are in need and he is a charlatan with the money of the treasury, "said the opponent Miguel Polo Polo.