FLORIDA — Bloomberg campaign National Co-Chair and former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz released the following statement today in response to Bernie Sanders’ comments last night on 60-Minutes defending Fidel Castro and his regime, saying, “it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad.” Diaz responded:
“As a Cuban who fled Fidel Castro’s murderous regime, and a son of a political prisoner who spent years in Castro’s prisons, I am disgusted by Bernie Sanders’ praises of the Cuban dictator.
“Sanders has repeatedly stated his admiration of the Castro regime, and the alleged ‘literacy program.’ The reality is far different from the picture Sanders paints. Children are taught by teachers who are barely paid enough to buy enough food to survive, and they study in dilapidated schools that may or may not have running water and electricity. The only books are supplied by the government, filled with pro-Castro propaganda. There are no notebooks, pencils or chalk for chalkboards. Kids go to school starving as their parents have no money for food, hardly an ideal state for learning.
“Literacy means nothing when you don’t have freedom. In fact, parents who choose to home-school their children are thrown in jail for not following the communism-imposed curriculum, designed to brainwash children.
“Additionally, Cuba’s health system deserves no praise. It has made less progress in healthcare and life expectancy than most of Latin America in recent years, due to its decrepit health care system. Hospitals in the island’s capital are falling apart, and often have no electricity, running water, or medical supplies. Often, patients must bring everything with them, from sheets to medicine and food.
“Cuba lost the big edge in life expectancy it once enjoyed over other Latin American countries, as a result of communism. It led virtually all countries in Latin America in life expectancy in 1959, before a communist regime took power in Cuba.
“Castro’s communism destroyed the Cuban society, and this destruction has spread throughout Latin America to Venezuela and Nicaragua. We cannot allow this destruction to reach the White House.”
