Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to skip Fidel Castro funeral: PMO

Nov 30, 2016 | News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will not be attending the funeral of former Cuban President Fidel Castro.

In a move announced following the weekend controversy of the prime minister’s Twitter remarks over the death of the Cuban dictator, the Prime Minister’s Office has said that Trudeau’s schedule won’t permit the trip.

Governor-General David Johnson was to attend a commemoration for Castro in Cuba on Tuesday, instead.

Trudeau released a statement on Saturday after Castro’s death was announced calling him “a larger than life leader,” as well as “a legendary revolutionary and orator” who made “significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation.”

The comments received widespread criticism for seeming to gloss over Castro’s repressive and at times brutal treatment of his people. Human Rights Watch has condemned Castro’s regime for its suppression of the rights of Cuban citizens.

“As other countries in the region turned away from authoritarian rule, only Fidel Castro’s Cuba continued to repress virtually all civil and political rights,” said José Miguel Vivanco, the Americas director at Human Rights Watch, in an article released on their website detailing life under Castro’s rule.

Trudeau’s comments also evoked strong responses from political figures in Canada and the United States.

Thomas Mulcair, leader of the NDP, tweeted his own response to the news of Castro’s death, while Conservative leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch took to twitter to call out the prime minister.

South of the border, prominent Republicans Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz also criticized the prime minister’s statements.

The Trudeau family has been long linked to Fidel Castro. Former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Castro appeared to share a close friendship. When Pierre Elliott died in 2000, Castro attended the funeral in Montreal as an honourary pallbearer.