Ernst Thälmann Island
The Ernst Thälmann Island ( or ; ) is a long and wide Cuban island in the Gulf of Cazones that is named after Ernst Thälmann, a German communist politician. During a 1970s state visit to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Fidel Castro made a promise that Cuba would donate an island to the East German government, and Cayo Blanco del Sur was renamed in a ceremony during a state visit by Erich Honecker. After the reunification of Germany, a German newspaper tried to visit the island and was told this transfer had only been "symbolic". History. 1970s. Until  1972, the island was known as Cayo Blanco del Sur. On the occasion of a state visit in June 1972 by Erich Honecker, Fidel Castro renamed the island in honour of German communist politician and activist Ernst Thälmann. According to a newspaper article in "Neues Deutschland" dated 20 June 1972, the Cuban leader announced the renaming of the island, and one of its beaches to Playa "República Democrática Alemana" (, ). East Germany's state television newscast, "Aktuelle Kamera", reported on the ceremony and the unveiling of a bust of Ernst Thälmann on 18 August 1972 in the presence of the GDR  ambassador, some East German delegates, and approximately 100 Cuban representatives. In March 1975, the East German government sent singer Frank Schöbel to Cuba to make some music videos, and some footage of the island was shot, which was later included in a documentary emphasising the island as a symbol of GDR–Cuba friendship. Recent history. In 1998, the island was hit severely by Hurricane Mitch, knocking over the bust of Ernst Thälmann. According to both the Cuban embassy in Germany and the German Foreign Office, the renaming was a "symbolic act", the island was never transferred from Cuba and neither  of the German states owned the island during or after the reunification. Despite this, the Republic of Molossia, a micronation project in the western United States, has used the island to explain an ongoing "war" against East Germany since the late 2000s, over a decade after the German Democratic Republic was dissolved. Molossian president Kevin Baugh claims the war was first declared in 1983 (when Molossia was instead known as "Vuldstein"), and cites the island's lack of a mention in the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany as "proof" that the GDR continues to exist on  the island. This supposed conflict has played a large part in the culture of Molossia, even though the micronation has never displayed any real intention to take action against Ernst Thälmann Island, militarily or otherwise.