‘What do you think the South Koreans think when they see him praise China like that?’…
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders once again defended former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s communist regime during Sunday’s Democratic debate, leading Joe Biden to criticize Sanders for praising a regime known for “violating human rights.”
Back in the 1980s, Sanders visited Cuba and came back to the U.S. praising Castro.
He has continued to defend those comments.
“We condemn authoritarianism,” Sanders said during Sunday’s debate. “But to simply say that nothing ever done by any of those administrations had a positive impact on their people, I think, would be incorrect.”
When Biden tried to point out Castro’s extreme human rights violations, Sanders exclaimed: “Did China make progress in ending extreme poverty over the last 50 years, yes or no?”
“It’s like saying Jack the Ripper…” Biden began, before Sanders once again cut in: “No it’s not,” he told Biden.
Biden, however, made it clear that “praising a country that is violating human rights around the world” is not a good look.
“What do you think the South Koreans think when they see him praise China like that?” Biden asked.
Sanders has a troubling history of defending authoritarian regimes.
In regard to Cuba, Sanders has praised Castro’s literacy program, arguing we should not condemn it as a “bad thing” just because “Fidel Castro did it.”
He has also blasted the U.S.’s efforts to prevent the spread of communism in Cuba.
“I remember, for some reason or another, being very excited when [former Cuban dictator] Fidel Castro made the revolution in Cuba,” he said while speaking at the University of Vermont in 1986. “I was a kid … and it just seemed right and appropriate that poor people were rising up against rather ugly rich people.”