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Miguel Díaz-Canel published a tribute on his social media this Wednesday honoring the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, on the 32nd anniversary of his death, sparking a wave of criticism among Cubans who described the gesture as an endorsement of one of the most brutal dictators of the 20th century.
In his Facebook post, the Cuban leader wrote: "32 years ago, the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung passed away, a great friend of #Fidel and our country. We will always remember his contribution to the historic and strong bonds of friendship and cooperation between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and #Cuba."
The message was accompanied by a period photograph, apparently from the 80s or 90s, depicting two men at an official event with their hands intertwined above their heads: one is wearing a military uniform adorned with decorations and the other is in a dark formal suit.
The reaction of Cubans on social media came swiftly. Many pointed out the irony that the leader of a country immersed in a deep humanitarian crisis is paying tribute to someone who established one of the deadliest totalitarian regimes in contemporary history.
Kim Il-sung, who passed away on July 8, 1994, ruled North Korea with an iron fist from 1948. His regime sparked the Korean War in 1950 by invading the south and caused famines that, according to international estimates, claimed the lives of between 600,000 and 3.5 million people.
Additionally, he established concentration camps and the Songbun system, a hereditary social stratification that condemned entire generations to discrimination. After his death, he was declared the "Eternal President of the Republic."
Relations between Havana and Pyongyang date back to August 29, 1960, just a year after the Revolution's triumph, and represent one of the longest-lasting communist alliances of the Cold War. Díaz-Canel has actively nurtured this relationship: in November 2018, he visited Pyongyang, where he was welcomed by nearly a million North Koreans and met with Kim Jong-un. On that occasion, the first official portrait of Kim Jong-un alongside Díaz-Canel was published.
This April, Díaz-Canel congratulated Kim Jong-un on his reelection as president of the State Affairs Commission, reaffirming the Cuban regime's solidarity with Pyongyang.
The relationship, however, has faced tensions since Cuba reestablished diplomatic ties with South Korea in February 2024 and opened its embassy in Seoul in June 2025, after six decades without relations. This decision deeply irritated Kim Jong-un's government: a senior North Korean diplomat assigned to Cuba defected to South Korea in 2024, on a mission that specifically included preventing this rapprochement.
Despite these frictions, the tribute on Wednesday makes it clear that the Cuban regime has no intention of distancing itself from the memory of the North Korean founder. For many Cubans facing power outages, food shortages, and an unprecedented crisis, Díaz-Canel's enthusiasm for celebrating allied dictators is as revealing as it is outrageous.
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