Campaign 2020: De Blasio Sparks Outrage, Quotes Notorious Revolutionary Che Guevara During Rally
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Mayor Bill de Blasio became the talk of the town during his visit to Miami for the first presidential debate after quoting revolutionary Che Guevara.
De Blasio unleashed his inner revolutionary at a Miami labor rally, quoting Cuban revolutionary, El Commandante Che Guevara, Fidel Castro's right hand man.
"Hasta la victoria siempre," de Blasio said. The phrase means "always toward victory." It was one of Che's most famous phrases, the subject of songs and poems.
But quoting Che in Miami, where there are many who fled the Cuban revolution, stunned people, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported. Twitter exploded.
"Does [de Blasio] really know who Che Guevara was? I don't think so. If he does, he's a f****** a******," said Felix Rodriguez Mendigutia Bay of Pigs veteran who helped capture Guevara said, according to Miami Herald reporter David Smiley.
I am utterly disgusted! Both @JoseJavierJJR and I left before @BilldeBlasio spoke. This is completely unacceptable! How can anyone wanting to be the leader of the free world quote a murderous guerrilla -in Miami no less! A community filled with his victims! #DeleteYourCampaign https://t.co/deDoNPFZxm
— Annette Taddeo (She/Her/Ella) (@Annette_Taddeo) June 27, 2019
But let's not forget that de Blasio's political past is rooted in socialist sympathies, his beliefs so intense he began married life with a honeymoon in Cuba. Joe Lhota, his Republican opponent when he ran for mayor in 2013, called him out on it.
"When he married, it was illegal for any American to go to Cuba," Lhota said at the time.
But there's more: As a student at NYU he said his vision of society was "democratic socialism." It's right there written in his own handwriting in minutes from a retreat of the Nicaragua Solidarity Movement of Greater New York, of which he was a member.
"We have to put working people first. Can you say it: Working people first! Working people first!" de Blasio said Thursday.
It's clear de Blasio has decided to go back to his early roots as he runs for president: Quoting Che, quoting other socialists, Kramer reported.
I only meant it as a literal message to the striking airport workers that I believed they would be victorious in their strike- BdB. (2/2)
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) June 27, 2019
After the uproar, de Blasio realized the faux pas. He claimed he didn't know the phrase he used was associated with Che Guevara.
"I did not mean to offend anyone," he said, apologizing for "not understanding history."