Cuban-American journalists with intimate knowledge of Fidel Castro’s cruelty encouraged Americans on Saturday not to whitewash the legacy of the deceased Cuban strongman.

On ABC’s “Good Morning America” Saturday, Tom Llamas, whose parents fled Cuba as political exiles, urged those following the news of Castro’s death to view his brutal reign with clarity.

“There is this tendency when world leaders die to kind of misplace this romanticism around some world leaders,” Llamas said. “But Fidel Castro is someone who was a tyrant. He was a killer.”

Llamas recalled harrowing scenes of desperate Cuban defectors he witnessed while embedding with the U.S. Coast Guard off the coast of Florida.

“Cuba at a distance may look beautiful. It may look mysterious. It may look nostalgic,” Llamas said. “But up close it is cracked, it is faded. And the people are hungry. And that should be the legacy of Fidel Castro.”

Llamas’ comments were an implicit rejoinder to the growing popularity of Cuba as a tourist destination and re-examination of the U.S.’ historic policy of isolating the country due to its disagreements with Castro’s government. Thanks to the resumption of diplomatic relations, Americans’ opinions of Cuba are the highest they have been in 20 years, a Gallup poll shows.

Progressives have long argued that the United States government and media have failed to acknowledge the massive gains in health care and education that Cuba experienced as a result of Castro’s takeover. They say that Castro must be viewed in the context of the harm the United States’ history of intervention on the island has caused and that America’s concern for governments’ human rights records is inconsistent.

Llamas’ colleague Ron Claiborne alluded to the first of these points on Saturday morning, noting that Cuba has a low infant mortality and high literacy rate.

Cuba, in fact, has a lower infant mortality rate than the United States, according to the World Bank. The island’s population is also virtually entirely literate.

Llamas insisted that these accomplishments do not diminish the suffering ordinary Cubans living under dictatorship had experienced, with scarce food and economic opportunities.

“I can remember night after night with my family stuffing envelopes with medicines, Kool-Aid, just so they can have calories ― and that’s what I remember,” Llamas said, his voice cracking as he fought back tears.

Ana Navarro, a CNN contributor who immigrated to the United States from Nicaragua, invited Cubans and Cuban-Americans to tweet stories of family members who were imprisoned, beaten or killed by Castro’s regime for political reasons. She retweeted many of the responses.

If u know someone killed, jailed, beaten by Castro's thugs, tweet me name & story, I will retweet. Ppl need to know he was a cruel despot. — Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) November 26, 2016

@ananavarro my grandmother's uncle, Jose Pujals, was a political prisoner under Castro for 27 yrs. Missed all of his kids' childhoods. — Evan (@evdeahl4) November 26, 2016

@ananavarro Samira Machado, beaten and arrested indefinitely for trying to escape. — mm (@mikeechado) November 26, 2016

@ananavarro my grandfather, Pablo Gonzalez, 6 years as a political prisoner. — Daniel Borges (@DBorgesCPA) November 26, 2016

@ananavarro My grandfather, Pablo Rodriguez Carazo killed by firing squad. My father, Gustavo Rodriguez-Perez spent 21 years in prison — Neyda A Borges (@Neyda_Borges) November 26, 2016

@ananavarro grandfather, Manuel Sanjurjo. Political prisoner for 20+ years. Professor at U of Havana. Half faced paralyzed from beatings — Vicki D. (@vicki_dee) November 26, 2016

Soledad O’Brien, an award-winning broadcast journalist and producer, whose mother is an Afro-Cuban immigrant to the U.S., shared her mother’s memories of Castro’s brutality on Twitter. She acknowledged, however, the reasons many previously marginalized Cubans, including Afro-Cubans, view Castro positively.

My mom on Castro: "Batista would only kill you. Castro would kill you, arrest your spouse, make it impossible for your parents to work..." — Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) November 26, 2016

Not really unbelievable. Post-Batista opened up opportunities for many Afro-Cubans. My mom's family remained poor--but got educated... https://t.co/3ELnQUc7HV — Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) November 26, 2016

Difficult to explain on twitter, but many who fled Castro first were wealthier, ergo White. So it is actually a Thing. https://t.co/3ELnQUc7HV — Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) November 26, 2016

Though Castro was also quite racist (my black relatives couldn't visit my hotel) he was seen as embracing blacks in a way Batista didn't https://t.co/3ELnQUc7HV — Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) November 26, 2016

Legend and dictator. He was very complicated. And for many Cubans a hero (at first) bc he got rid of Batista and gave the finger to the US. https://t.co/xvO8Uiazga — Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) November 26, 2016