A state-run Cuban newspaper has declared Sen. Bernie Sanders “unstoppable” in the Democratic presidential race and offered praise for the senator’s repeated defense of the education reforms brought on by Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution.
Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, gave Mr. Sanders front-page treatment this week for recognizing “some of the social programs implemented by the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro,” the Miami Herald reported.
“U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, today one of the strongest candidates for the nomination of the Democratic Party to the November presidential elections, recognized Cuba’s role in sending doctors worldwide,” Granma said, the Herald reported.
“As expected,” the article continued, “his comments sparked the anger of the most extremist sector of Cuban-Americans in South Florida, who oppose any rapprochement with the Caribbean island.”
The article reportedly added that Mr. Sanders appeared “unstoppable” in winning the Democratic nomination.
The Vermont senator sparked a wave of backlash on both sides of the political aisle after he repeatedly defended Castro’s literacy programs, though he says he unequivocally denounces all authoritarian regimes.
“He formed the literacy brigade,” the senator he said in a CNN town hall in South Carolina on Monday. “He went out, and they helped people learn to read and write. You know what? I think teaching people to read and write is a good thing.”
A new analysis by The Washington Post, which reviewed more than 10 hours of Mr. Sanders’ appearances over the past three decades, revealed that the senator has “often been quick to downplay abuses of authoritarian regimes”
and chooses to focus instead on the “aspects and programs he admired.”
