Say cheese, Comrade!
New York Metropolis mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani is seen beaming with members of communist Cuba’s delegation to the United Nations throughout a visit to Albany final yr.
Mamdani, a Queens state assemblyman and now the main mayoral hopeful, is pictured with different Democratic Socialist lawmakers who wish to support the communist dictatorship by advocating to finish the US blockade in opposition to Cuba.
The hassle is par for the course amongst lefty politicians. Former Mayor Invoice de Blasio honeymooned in Cuba and visited communist Nicaragua.
Mamdani’s rival, impartial candidate and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo is not any slouch relating to schmoozing with the communist-led nation, both. He headed a commerce mission to Cuba in 2015 after then-President Barack Obama eased US sanctions in opposition to it, although the embargo remained in impact.
US Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, whose mom fled oppressive Cuba, was not amused by Mamdani becoming a member of arms with communists.
“It’s no shock Zohran was thrilled to welcome a delegation representing Cuba’s communist regime to New York since he’s made Karl Marx’s communist playbook a part of his marketing campaign,” claimed Malliotakis, a Republican who represents Staten Island and southern Brooklyn.
“From abolishing personal property possession to seizing the technique of manufacturing to government-run supermarkets, Zohran’s proposed insurance policies have destroyed lives, companies and nations — simply ask my mom whose household’s small enterprise and residential have been confiscated by the regime” in Cuba, the GOPer mentioned.
Mamdani just lately opined on his views of Cuba throughout and after an interview with Latino journalists Jorge Ramos and his daughter, Paola Ramos.
“I wish to be clear on the place I stand. I consider each Nicolas Maduro and Miguel Diaz-Canel are dictators,” he mentioned, referring to the Venezuelan and Cuban leaders, respectively.
“Their administrations have stifled free and truthful elections, jailed political opponents and suppressed the free and truthful press.”
However then he blamed the US authorities blockade of Cuba and hostility towards Venezuela as counterproductive and inhumane.
“Our federal authorities’s lengthy historical past of punitive insurance policies towards each international locations, together with extrajudicial killings of Venezuelans and the continuation of a decades-long blockade of Cuba, have solely worsened these situations,” Mamdani mentioned.
“Democratic socialism is about dignity, justice and accountability. And above all, it’s about constructing a democracy that works for working folks, not one which preys on them.”
The image with the Cuba delegation was proudly posted by Democratic Brooklyn state Sen. Jabari Brisport.
“It’s onerous to overstate how a lot injury the US blockade in opposition to Cuba has executed,” Brisport wrote when posting the photograph on social media June 3, 2024. “It’s time we deal with our neighbors with fundamental decency & finish these unjustified sanctions.
“So honored the Cuban Delegation to the United Nations was in a position to meet with us at present.”
Brisport famous that members of the Cuban delegation to the UN usually are not usually allowed to go away a 25-mile radius from the UN constructing and that they needed to get “particular permission to come back to our state Capitol.”
About 40 members of the Democratic Socialists of America just lately returned from a visit to Cuba, the place they displayed solidarity with their comrades and opposed the US blockade and different sanctions in opposition to the communist state.
“Our delegation met Cuban employees, medical doctors, lecturers and artists who preserve the nation operating regardless of the rising hardships imposed by the U.S. blockade,” the DSA mentioned in a press release.
“The resilience of the Cuban folks evokes us, however we additionally noticed firsthand the hardships they face. From blackouts to shortages of fundamental items, the U.S. blockade grips every day life, and issues are worsening as sanctions tighten and Trump beats the drums of battle within the area.
“We return extra decided than ever to finish the merciless U.S. blockade and stand with the Cuban folks as they battle to construct a brighter future for his or her nation.”
