ATLANTA — Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) told Breitbart News in an exclusive comment on Wednesday that Georgia Senate Democrat candidate Raphael Warnock’s calling Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s legacy of murdering of thousands of Cubans “complex” exposes his “radical, socialist agenda.”
Breitbart News reported Wednesday that after Cuban Communist dictator Fidel Castro died, Warnock argued that Castro had a “complex” legacy.
Warnock delivered these remarks two days after Castro died on November 25, 2016, “We pray for the people of Cuba in this moment. We remember Fidel Castro, whose legacy is complex. Don’t let anyone tell you a simple story; life usually isn’t very simple. His legacy is complex, kind of like America’s legacy is complex.”
Loeffler, who hopes to defeat Warnock during the January Georgia runoffs, told Breitbart News in an exclusive comment that Warnock’s attempt to find nuance in Castro’s legacy exposes his “radical” agenda.
“The fact that Fidel Castro, one of the most brutal dictators in world history who murdered thousands of his own citizens while suppressing free speech and perpetuating human rights violations, is ‘complex’ for Raphael Warnock tells you all you need to know about his radical, socialist agenda,” Loeffler told Breitbart News.
Castro’s 2016 comments arise as Warnock told CNN in November that he never “celebrated” Castro.
During the 2016 sermon, Warnock also compared Cuban political prisoners to American prisoners. He said:
While we focus on political prisoners in Cuba, you saw the folks standing here this morning. If some people get slapped on the hand for the same crime and others go to federal prison, then we too have our own political prisoners, because politics more than the crime – politics of race and class, and in that sense many of us have sisters and brothers who are political prisoners.
During a debate between Loeffler and Warnock Sunday, Warnock would not respond to a question about whether he rejects socialism and Marxism.
In Warnock’s 2014 book, The Divided Mind of the Black Church: Theology, Piety, and Public Witness, Warnock praised Marxism as a way to “teach the black church.”
He also criticized another author trivializing the “black struggle against the obduracy of white capitalistic forces.”
Breitbart News also noted that Warnock had described Dr. James Cone, who repeatedly defended Marxism and used provocative anti-white language, as his “mentor.”
In My Soul Looks Black, Cone called for the “total reconstruction of society along the lines of democratic socialism.”
Warnock has yet to respond to a comment request from Breitbart News as to what he meant by saying Castro had a “complex” legacy.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.