Bernie Sanders: Unfair to say ‘everything is bad’ with Fidel Castro’s Cuba

“What is democratic socialism?” Cooper asked.

Sanders, who self-identifies as a democratic socialist, began by giving an example of what he called “corporate socialism,” which he attributed to President Trump. He then pointedly defined his worldview: “Let’s use the federal government to protect the interests of working families.”

Earlier in his political career, Sanders, 78, defended the policies of the former Soviet Union, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and the communist regime of Cuba. In 1985, when Sanders was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, he said Cubans did not join the United States in rebellion against the dictatorship because the regime “educated their kids, gave them healthcare, totally transformed the society.”

“We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba. But, you know, it’s unfair to simply say ‘everything is bad.’ You know, when Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing, even though Fidel Castro did it?” the socialist asked Cooper in the interview, to which he responded, “There’s a lot of dissidents imprisoned and killed.”

“That’s right, and we condemn that,” Sanders said, objecting against the method by which socialism is implemented.

Sanders, who is the front-runner in the Democratic primary contest, has a history of expressing sympathies for communist states and not shying away from the ideology itself. In 2019, the Washington Examiner reported Sanders effectively praised the “Cuban revolution” while he was mayor of Burlington.

“For better or for worse, the Cuban revolution is a very profound and very deep revolution. Much deeper than I had understood,” Sanders wrote in a 1989 public statement from the mayor’s office. “More interesting than their providing their people with free health care, free education, free housing … is that they are in fact creating a very different value system than the one we are familiar with.”

In 1972, Sanders said he was not insulted when others labeled him a “communist.” “I don’t mind people coming up and calling me a communist,” Sanders said. “At least, they’re still alive.”

Some Democrats criticized Sanders for his latest expression of sympathy for the Castro regime.

“Fidel Castro left a dark legacy of forced labor camps, religious repression, widespread poverty, firing squads, and the murder of thousands of his own people. But sure, Bernie, let’s talk about his literacy program,” former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a tweet Monday.

Bloomberg, 78, has repeatedly criticized Sanders’s worldview as too extreme for the Democratic Party. In the ninth Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, Bloomberg compared Sanders’s policies on economic inequality with those from communist dictatorships.

“I can’t think of a way that would make it easier for Donald Trump to get reelected than listening to this conversation. This is ridiculous. We’re not going to throw out capitalism. We tried that. Other countries tried that. It was called communism, and it just didn’t work,” he said.

Sanders faced blowback from other prominent Democrats, including Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a refugee to America from Vietnam. She said the senator misunderstood the point of Castro’s “literacy program.”

“Castro was a murderous dictator who oppressed his own people. His ‘literacy program’ wasn’t altruistic; it was a cynical effort to spread his dangerous philosophy & consolidate power,” Murphy said in a tweet.

Despite the criticism Sanders is getting now from Democrats, a high-profile figure praised the policies of the communist state a few short years ago.

In 2016, President Barack Obama made moves to open diplomatic relations with Cuba, even attending a baseball game with communist revolutionary Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother Fidel after his death in November 2016. During his trip, Obama subtly praised the country’s schooling program, saying it was “an extraordinary resource — a system of education that values every boy and every girl.”