Democratic Presidential Nominee Bernie Sanders is facing a potential setback for his candidacy in the face of a newly released 31-year-old video showing him praising Cuba's communist dictator Fidel Castro.
Sanders, mayor of Burlington, Vt., at the time, and now the state's independent senator seeking the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, made the remarks during an interview on the CCTV Center for Media & Democracy in Burlington.
In the 1985 video, Sanders, a self-described socialist, can be seen praising Castro's policies on education, healthcare and society in general.
His remarks were allegedly spurred by a then-recent trip to Nicaragua to observe the sixth anniversary of the Sandinista regime. He compared the leader, Daniel Ortega, who is now the president of Nicaragua, to Castro, according to The Daily Mail.
"In 1961, [America] invaded Cuba, and everybody was totally convinced that Castro was the worst guy in the world," he said. "All the Cuban people were going to rise up in rebellion against Fidel Castro. They forgot that he educated their kids, gave their kids health care, totally transformed society."
In saying this, Sanders seemed to be unaware - or chose to ignore - the fact that while what he said is true, civil liberties became non-existent while under the communist leader's rule, reported Biography. Labor unions lost the right to strike, independent newspapers were shut down and religious institutions were harassed.
He removed opposition to his rule through executions and imprisonments, and it is believed an estimated 73,000 people died during his rule by 1987.
Despite these facts, Sanders continued to support the dictator, saying, "You know, not to say Fidel Castro and Cuba are perfect - they are certainly not - but just because Ronald Reagan dislikes these people does not mean to say the people in these nations feel the same way."
In contrast to the praise he offered Castro, he was far harsher in his analysis of Reagan.
"If President Reagan thinks that any time a government comes along, which in its wisdom, rightly or wrongly, is doing the best for its people, he has the right to overthrow that government, you're going to be at war not only with all of Latin America, but with the entire Third World," he said.
Sanders, who is known for being unusually blunt and unapologetic, will likely need to break his current trend and address this, however neither he nor his campaign have yet to comment.
