People Are Falsely Claiming That Justin Trudeau's Father Was Actually Fidel Castro

Castro met the Trudeaus when Justin was already four years old.

An online rumour falsely claims that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the illegitimate son of the late Fidel Castro.

Fred Chartrand / The Canadian Press

Trudeau's father, former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was a close friend of Castro's both in office and afterward. Castro even attended the elder Trudeau's funeral in 2000, where the above photo was taken.

But according to a hoax that appears to have started on Reddit, the ties between the Trudeaus and Castros supposedly go even deeper, with some people falsely claiming that Fidel Castro is in fact Justin Trudeau's real father through an affair with his mother Margaret.

There is no evidence to support this theory, and the timeline doesn't work.

Justin Trudeau was born in 1971. Castro didn't meet Pierre or Margaret Trudeau until 1976, when the Canadian prime minister embarked on a controversial three-day state visit to Cuba.

Fred Chartrand / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Justin Trudeau was already four years old when this photo was taken in Havana.

In his book Three Nights in Havana: Pierre Trudeau, Fidel Castro and the Cold War World, author Robert Wright writes that Pierre Trudeau and Castro's first dealings were in 1970, when the Canadian prime minister negotiated for Cuba to take five members of the FLQ terrorist group off his hands.

"Yet only in January 1976 did the two men meet face-to-face for the first time," according to Wright.

The only other "evidence" offered in support of the Justin Trudeau-Fidel Castro link is a supposed resemblance between the two men, like in this split image.

Twitter / Via Twitter: @TrumpaholicMAGA

And whatever this monstrosity is.

Twitter

The Castro-Trudeau hoax has been picked up by some conservative blogs and tabloids, as well as by many people critical of Justin Trudeau's policies.

The paternity rumour started circulating after Trudeau released a statement regarding Castro's death that was widely criticized as being too soft on a dictator with a poor human rights record.

Trudeau said he learned of Castro's death "with deep sorrow," and called him a controversial leader with "tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people."

After fierce backlash from critics, Trudeau later said he considered Castro a dictator.