Bernie Sanders is wrong about Fidel Castro's Cuba. Does that make him worse than Trump?
Cuban-Americans are furious and some suggest they may ditch Bernie Sanders over his praising of “massive literacy” under Fidel Castro’s communist Cuba.
The wicked remarks unleashed a media frenzy forecasting big trouble for the Democratic frontrunner because Cuban-Americans are powerful in Florida.
But by the time Florida holds its primary on March 17, Sanders may have firmly cemented his momentum toward the magic 1,991 delegates needed to seal the nomination.
That leaves an even more intriguing question. Would Cubans in Florida really pick Donald Trump over Sanders in November?
Let’s add a bit of perspective and compare the two men to answer that question.
Why Sanders is wrong about Cuba
Cubans aren’t likely to embrace Sanders because he’s a self-defined socialist, and they despise everything to do with Castro’s 1959 revolution that exiled them – or the parents of the new generation of Cubans in Florida – in the first place.
To them, it's a deal-breaker that Sanders had the audacity to say it’s “unfair to simply say everything is bad” about Fidel Castro’s Cuba.
“When Fidel Castro came to office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program,” he told he told “60 Minutes” on Sunday. “Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?”
Well, literacy itself is a good thing. But the late Fidel Castro became a brutal dictator who murdered or jailed political dissidents, stifled free speech and turned Cuba into a desolate, starving and decrepit island.
Fidel Castro is gone, but his brutal legacy is pretty much alive. U.S. economic sanctions that have choked the island for decades are tied to the powerful Cubans who settled in Florida.
Over time, many of the Cuban émigrés and their children became Republicans and Fidel Castro’s sworn enemies, like Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who lashed out at Sanders' remarks.
"He’s wrong about why people didn’t overthrow Castro. It’s not because 'he educated their kids, gave them health care' it‘s because his opponents were jailed, murdered or exiled," Rubio said on Twitter.
Likely Dem nominee praised the supposed “achievements” Castro regime
And he’s wrong about why people didn’t overthrow Castro. It’s not because “he educated their kids,gave them health care” it‘s because his opponents were jailed,murdered or exiled https://t.co/6i41w7zcDe— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 24, 2020
But Trump, 'friend' to dictators, is no better
Still, is Sanders really worse than Trump?
Trump calls North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un a friend. Yes, a friend of a ruthless tyrant who obliterates people and had his own brother murdered with a nerve agent in Sri Lanka.
Trump goes out of his way to praise Russian President Vladimir Putin and doesn’t give a damn that the tyrant is meddling in U.S. elections to destabilize this nation.
In the same interview, Sanders brought up Trump's friendship with authoritarians. "Unlike Donald Trump, I do not think Kim Jong Un is a good friend. I don't trade love letters with a murder and dictator."
Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl ruined Cuba. And no massive literacy campaign can ever compensate for the economic catastrophe and brutality of the dictatorship.
Elvia Díaz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral where this column first appeared. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1.
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This article originally appeared on The Republic | azcentral.com: Bernie Sanders is wrong about Cuba. He's still not worse than Trump
