Havana, March 31 (RHC) -- More than a million people have visited Fidel Castro's mausoleum in eastern Cuba since it opened in December 2016, including several world leaders and international personalities, Cuban newspaper Granma reported.

Former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa was among the 1,008,392 people who as of Monday had paid their respects to the legendary revolutionary leader and statesman buried at the Santa Iphigenia Cemetery in Santiago de Cuba city.

Fidel Castro was, and still is, an inspiration for Latin American and global movements against oppression and inequality, Correa said at the time of his visit.

From abroad, more than 170 thousand visitors, from countries like Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the United States, have traveled to pay respect to the late Cuban revolutionary leader.Many laid flowers at the simple, imposing tomb, designed in the shape of a giant boulder that contains Fidel's ashes.

There has also been offerings of personal letters, poems, flags, even handfuls of soil from overseas, and in the case of the locals,  pledges to honor Fidel  in deed as well as word.

Fidel Castro's tomb lies at the center of the cemetery, beside those of national hero Jose Marti, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, considered as the "Father of the Homeland," and other heroes from Cuba's wars of independence.