Tributes poured in on Saturday morning (26 November) for former president and Cuban revolutionary, Fidel Castro, who has died aged 90. His death was announced by his brother and current Cuban president, Raul Castro, late on Friday.
French President Francois Hollande, who was the first French leader to visit Cuba since 1898, released a statement on Saturday morning sending his condolences to Raul Castro and the people of Cuba.
He said: Fidel Castro was a figure of the 20th century. He embodied the Cuban revolution, in the hopes it had raised then in the disillusionment it had caused. He represented Cuban pride and the rejection of foreign domination.
France, which denounced the violations of human rights, had always challenged the embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba. We had welcomed his openness and dialogue which was restored between the two countries.
The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, extended his deepest condolences to the people of Cuba. We stand in support with the Cuban Government and people of Cuba in this tragic hour, he said.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union and one of the last international allies of Castro, spoke of his sadness about the death of his firm friend on Saturday morning.
He said: Fidel stood up and strengthened his country during the harshest American blockade, when there was colossal pressure on him and he still took his country out of this blockade to a path of independent development.
I formed a very good opinion of him.
We became firm friends and remained friends until the end...
In the 20th century, Fidel Castro did everything to destroy the colonial system, to establish relations of cooperation...
I am really sad that Fidels time is over. He will remain in our memory as an outstanding politician, an outstanding man and our friend.
Current president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who met with both Fidel and Raul Castro in 2014 said Castro was the symbol of an era.
He said: The name of this distinguished statesman is rightly considered the symbol of an era in modern world history. Fidel Castro was a sincere and reliable friend of Russia.
The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, extended his deepest condolences to the people of Cuba. He said: We stand in support with the Cuban Government and people of Cuba in this tragic hour.
The Nelson Mandela foundation tweeted its regret at the passing of Castro, who was an ally of Mandela and worked with him in his struggle against apartheid.
Former cricketer and leader of Pakistans Tehreek-e-Insaf party, Imran Khan spoke warmly of Castro on Saturday morning, thanking him for Cubas support in the wake of the devastating 2005 earthquake which killed more than 86,000 people. The humanitarian aid sent to Pakistan by Cuba helped to re-establish formal diplomatic relations which had ceased in 1990.
The left-wing grassroots political movement, Momentum, tweeted: RIP Fidel Castro. A leader who will always be remembered by history.
Former MP George Galloway, who published the Fidel Castro Handbook in 2006, an account of Castros rise to power, tweeted: You were the greatest man I ever met commandant Castro.
But not everyone mourned Castros passing, as US Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who was born in Havana and represents a highly-populated Cuban area of Miami, tweeted of the oppression of Cuban people.
She tweeted: Tyrant #FidelCastro is dead, a new day must dawn for the oppressed #Cuban people.
