As world leaders reacted to the death of Fidel Castro, President-elect Donald Trump shared his thoughts on the late Cuban leader on Twitter.
Trump’s tweet merely stated the facts, and didn’t say anything beyond that.
While Castro leaves a complex legacy, heads of state were quick to issue statements that were a little lengthier and more fleshed out than the one that Trump offered Saturday morning.
Trump has criticized President Barack Obama for making a “weak agreement” in his decision to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba in 2014, though the president-elect has not said he would cut off such an arrangement.
“I would do whatever you have to do to get a strong agreement. And people want an agreement, I like the idea of an agreement, but it has to be a real agreement. So if you call that for negotiation purposes, whatever you have to do to make a great deal for the people of Cuba,” he said earlier this year.
Trump did release a full statement later Saturday morning, saying:
Today, the world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades. Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights.
While Cuba remains a totalitarian island, it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve.
Though the tragedies, deaths and pain caused by Fidel Castro cannot be erased, our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty. I join the many Cuban Americans who supported me so greatly in the presidential campaign, including the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association that endorsed me, with the hope of one day soon seeing a free Cuba.
This story has been updated with Donald Trump’s full statement released later Saturday morning.
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