Frida Kahlo's colorful paintings and fate of life have captivated artists all over the world, and she is both a feminist icon and something of a Mexican national saint.
Kahlo was also a convinced Marxist and a supporter of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
The latter has prompted US New Mexico Ambassador Christopher Landau to speak after a visit to Kahlo's house in Mexico City, which is now a museum.
“What I don't understand is her passion for Marxism, Leninism and Stalinism. She did not know the horrors committed in the name of that ideology, ”he writes in Spanish on Twitter.
The post has received 1,600 responses, with many angry reminders of how the United States has supported dictatorships over the years and intervened in other countries' internal affairs both in Latin America and in several other places. Others express their support for the ambassador and accuse Mexico's leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of following the same Marxist tradition.
Landau was appointed by Donald Trump and took up the job last month, amid an already chilly relationship between the countries.