Former presidential hopeful Rev. Jesse Jackson called on Americans to celebrate the life of Fidel Castro, calling the deceased Cuban dictator a “freedom fighter” and “poor people’s hero.”

In a Saturday evening statement, the civil rights leader urged the nation to join “oppressed people” across the globe in celebration of “the life of a liberator who fought and won against the rich and oligarch rule of [former Cuban President Fulgencio] Batista.”