FACT CHECK: Does This Photo Show Fidel Castro Holding Justin Trudeau As A Baby?

An image shared on Facebook purports to show the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro holding Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a baby.

Verdict: False

The photo, taken in 1976, shows Castro holding Michel Trudeau, the younger brother of Justin Trudeau.

Fact Check:

A black-and-white photo of Castro holding a baby has been making the rounds on social media lately with text claiming it depicts the deceased Cuban dictator as he “holds in his hands the current Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, 1972.”

While the picture is authentic, the text accompanying it misidentifies the baby in Castro’s arms and gives an incorrect date. The Ottawa Citizen identifies the baby shown in the photo as Michel Trudeau, the younger brother of Justin Trudeau. The picture was taken during then-Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s 1976 trip to Cuba, according to the Ottawa Citizen’s caption.

Pierre Trudeau, their father, traveled to Cuba in January 1976, marking the first time a NATO leader had visited the country since Castro took power through a revolution, according to Reuters. Michel Trudeau, who was born in October 1975, was under a year old when he was photographed in Castro’s arms.

Similar photos of Castro holding Michel Trudeau in 1976 can be found in a CBC News article and on the Toronto Public Library website. Michel Trudeau died after an avalanche at the age of 23 in 1998, according to CBC News. (RELATED: Does This Photo Show Jill Biden Posing With Fidel Castro?)

At the time of his father’s 1976 trip to Cuba, Justin Trudeau was four years old, as he was born in December 1971.

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