People around the world reacted with astonishment Saturday after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waxed poetic about Cuba’s former leader Fidel Castro in a statement he released hours after news broke that Castro had passed away.

In his statement, Trudeau referred to the former guerrilla revolutionary as a “remarkable leader” and pointed to Castro’s friendship with Trudeau’s late father, Pierre Trudeau. Castro attended Trudeau’s Montreal funeral in 2000.

“It is with deep sorrow that I learned today of the death of Cuba’s longest serving President,” Trudeau wrote in the statement, which was circulated around 4 a.m. EST Saturday morning. “Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century. A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation.”

“While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for ‘el Comandante.'”

Trudeau’s full statement can be found at the bottom of this article.

Here in Canada, many Conservative members of Parliament and Tory leadership candidates took to Twitter to condemn Trudeau’s tribute to the deeply divisive leader. Maxime Bernier published a series of tweets in both French and English, calling the prime minister’s praise of Castro “repugnant.”

Prime Minister Trudeau should apologize and retract his statement on the death of dictator Fidel Castro https://t.co/crAqmbry91 #cdnpoli — Lisa Raitt (@lraitt) November 26, 2016

Trudeau had a chance to stand for freedom and human dignity today and instead stood with a brutal dictator. https://t.co/TflJeaG3vp #castro — Kellie Leitch (@KellieLeitch) November 26, 2016

Castro, a socialist and Cuban nationalist, formed and led a rebel army in the 1950’s and overthrew Cuban president and dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Castro embraced Soviet-style communism; under his almost five-decade rule of the island nation, Cuba became a one-party socialist state and Castro imposed radical economic reforms throughout the country.

Relations between the United States and Cuba reached crisis levels under Castro’s administration, culminating in the severance of diplomatic ties in January 1961. The two countries only re-established their diplomatic relationship in 2015. Canada, however, has always maintained relations with Cuba, which were especially warm in the 1970s and 1980s when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister.

Castro was both loved and hated around the world. To some, he was a revolutionary hero; to others, he was a dictator who oversaw a number of human rights abuses during his regime.

U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio — both of whom ran for the Republican presidential nomination — attacked Trudeau over social media on Saturday. Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants, called the statement “shameful.”

Is this a real statement or a parody? Because if this is a real statement from the PM of Canada it is shameful & embarrassing. https://t.co/lFXeqU7Ws0 — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 26, 2016

Disgraceful. Why do young socialists idolize totalitarian tyrants? Castro, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot — all evil, torturing murderers. #truth https://t.co/mYJonVK7JB — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 26, 2016

Journalists in North America and the United Kingdom also expressed their surprise and disapproval of the Canadian prime minister’s tribute to Castro on Twitter.

For all of the British fans of Justin Trudeau, this from him on Castro is worse than Corbyn. O, Canada, oh dear https://t.co/8dnCeha3zQ — Tim Montgomerie ن (@montie) November 26, 2016

This is a sad statement for the leader of a democracy to make: https://t.co/NN959KsMcP — Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) November 26, 2016

Kudos to Justin Trudeau for finding a way to gloss over the whole murderous, oppressive dictatorship thingy. Actually kind of impressive. pic.twitter.com/GppKwOJjCw — Robyn Urback (@RobynUrback) November 26, 2016

I suspect Canadian PM Trudeau hasn’t spent lots of time with Castro’s detractors, who rarely concede this point or use this terminology. pic.twitter.com/LMxd3zQ1Z5 — Roque Planas (@RoqPlanas) November 26, 2016

Trudeau’s statement spread far and wide and caught the attention of social media users in Israel, Spain, The Netherlands and Egypt.

Is this real? Trudeau is praising Castro? https://t.co/lTwYwIzMJs — Gilad (@gilad73) November 26, 2016

Escándalo en Canadá por el mensaje de Trudeau de obsequiosa y grotesca adulación al dictador. Aun peor que Obama. https://t.co/UA5Fav8xVG — Hermann Tertsch (@hermanntertsch) November 26, 2016

This only goes to show that Justin Trudeau has serious difficulties distinguishing good from bad, right from wrong. Unacceptable. https://t.co/m3cQ5KYrB5 — spiervanzwicht (@spiervanzwicht) November 26, 2016

Aha,nu komt de aap uit de mouw: Trudeau, de moderne cryptocommunist.

Voor wie is deze man ook al weer ‘n lichtend voorbeeld? ☘️#FidelCastro https://t.co/3KDjafRsQ6 — Toon Sesink (@Toon_Sesink) November 26, 2016

This guy is nuts Canadian PM Trudeau Praises Dictator Castro as ‘Remarkable… https://t.co/nRR49BK1TI by #singsandsews via @c0nvey

— moustafa sabry (@mossabry) November 26, 2016

The son of former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper also called Trudeau’s statement “an embarrassment for Canada.”

What an embarrassment for Canada.https://t.co/thKMpPnBRU — Ben Harper (@Ben_S_Harper) November 26, 2016

Saturday afternoon, Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose issued her own statement on Fidel Castro’s passing, in which she focused more on Cuban citizens than on their former leader.

“With the passing of Fidel Castro, my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Cuba who continue to endure his long and oppressive regime, even after his death,” Ambrose wrote. “Under his rule, thousands were impoverished, thousands were imprisoned and executed, and free speech, thought and assembly were curtailed or banned, all to live up to his version of ‘socialism.’

“Canada and the Cuban people have had a long and warm friendship over many years. With today’s news, my hope is that a brighter day will be coming for the Cuban people, where they may live in freedom and where democracy, human rights, and the rule of law are enshrined.‎”

Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro

November 26, 2016

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro:

“It is with deep sorrow that I learned today of the death of Cuba’s longest serving President.

“Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century. A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation.

“While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for “el Comandante”.

“I know my father was very proud to call him a friend and I had the opportunity to meet Fidel when my father passed away. It was also a real honour to meet his three sons and his brother President Raúl Castro during my recent visit to Cuba.

“On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our deepest condolences to the family, friends and many, many supporters of Mr. Castro. We join the people of Cuba today in mourning the loss of this remarkable leader.”