The two major runners for Kamala Harris’ Senate seat have reportedly praised former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Democratic California Reps. Karen Bass and Barbara Lee both had sweet words for the communist leader in the past.
Lee said following Castro’s death in 2016, according to the Mercury News, “I was very sad for the Cuban people. He led a revolution in Cuba that led social improvements for his people.”
Lee met with Castro eight times before his death, so she has reason enough why she called him “a smart man,” little wonder why she issued a statement through her office after Castro’s passed away.
“My deepest condolences to Fidel Castro’s family and the Cuban people during this time. While there are many disagreements between our countries, President Castro was a recognized world leader who was dedicated to the Cuban people,” she said.
”It is my hope that we continue to build on President Obama’s efforts to end the failed embargo, lift the travel ban, and normalize relations between our two countries,” she added.
Bass went to Cuba in 1973 with an organization called the Venceremos Brigade, a joint venture between the regime and left-wing U.S. groups that organized trips for Americans to build homes in the country. During that trip, she went to see Castro speak.
In 2016, when Castro died, she referred to him as “commandante en jefe” which translates as “commander in chief”, and said his passing was a “great loss to the people of Cuba.”
Just like Harris, when Bass was being floated as a possible running mate for then-candidate Joe Biden in 2019, she told The Atlantic that she expressed regret for those remarks, saying, “If I had to make that statement over again, I wouldn’t use those words”
