Sen. Bernie Sanders Defends Comments He Made About Fidel Castro

In an interview in the 1980s, Bernie Sanders said the Cuban revolution wasn't entirely bad.

[sunnyshaukat]

Obama praised Cuba’s literary programs and medical care.

[joser]

I find it too funny how 1 day before every single debate something new comes up and yet Bernie still ends up winning the state.

[jack]

It’s funny how people tend to ignore that before Castro, Cuba was already ruled by a dictator. Under him, companies (particularly American ones) has very little regulation and many Cubans were poor and did not see any benefits. Not to mention he revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. Eventually, it got so bad that most of the sugar industry owned by U.S. hands, and foreigners owned 70% of the arable land. As such, Batista's repressive government then began to systematically profit from the exploitation of Cuba's commercial interests, by negotiating lucrative relationships with both the American Mafia, who controlled the drug, gambling, and prostitution businesses in Havana, and with large U.S.-based multinational companies who were awarded lucrative contracts. To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace, Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions. Many people were killed, with estimates ranging from hundreds to about 20, 000 people killed.

[brothertaro]

"I don't trade love letters with a murdering dictator."

[pangeanow]

MSM logic- finding things that are good is bad because those same people that did those good things also did bad things. I guess nobody can do anything good because we've all done something we are not proud of.

[chrisoliver]

Uh correction - "when fidel castro came into power" not office

[Daaaake]

I think ignoring the first thing someone says and focusing on the second one is called bias.

[PleaseSayYesTV]

Love the smear campaign against Bernie for just being honest. #NotMeUs

[alvaroobregon]

I am a direct descendent of an exile from Havana and let me speak for myself I stand with Bernie Sanders. The only thing that doomed Castro was an embargo end of story good night

[ORIJINN_STUDIO]

S RM
​Bernie gave a nuanced answer on Castro. Things are not simple. Bad people can do good things. I feel like subtlety is dying a death these days.

[johnpearson]

Hey Cuban Americans "living" in Miami you are not the center of the geopolitical universe! Come into the 21 century If you dare? We (327 million Americans) are on a majestic march towards a more perfect Union!!!🇺🇸

[DefendKorea]

Florida voter here, I am more likely to vote for Bernie after hearing those old clips of Bernie talking about Cuba. Long live the Cuban revolution!

[kdcuba]

He has no idea how the educational system works in Cuba... just like he has no idea how to govern a country like the US.

[dotwhodotcom]

The only country that you can walk around at 3 am and still be safe is Cuba health wake up

[theruralradical]

Just curious have you played Clips and confronted Biden about the multiple times he has tried and failed to cut Medicaid Medicare and Social Security?? My feelings say no you haven’t.

[jahgol]

Cuba without communism would be an economic power in the region.

[COYG]

I guess having a great literacy rate is a bad thing now.

[GS-zelr]

Bernie - Make america great like Venezuela. Yea, Socialism.

[albinjohnsson]

He's right both factually and ethically. Just because someone is overall bad it doesn't follow that all they do is bad. Fidel Castro was a dictator, yes, but he also run a good literacy program – there's no contradiction here. (Hitler was insane, he also built great roads). Also, as Bernie points out, the US have an extremely hypocritical relation to Cuba compared to other dictatorships such as Russia or Saudia Arabia – which in any way you look at it is a much more dangerous and repressive regimes.

It should also be noted, for those that don't know their history, that Castro came to power by overthrowing a very repressive military dictatorship (Batista) backed by the US. So it's not really that surprising that he despised the US and American capitalism. And don't take this as an excuse for his rule, but an explanation.

[cannon]

Of course they didn’t rise up against Castro. Castro was a dictator. But he was a CUBAN dictator, whereas Batista was a dictator controlled by the AMERICAN MAFIA. U pick