In a resurfaced video of a speech he made shortly after the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in 2016, he seemingly compared political prisoners in Cuba to Black Americans who are unfairly treated under the U.S. criminal justice system.
“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,” he said.
He claimed Americans could be considered political prisoners if “politics of race and class” factored more heavily into their incarceration than the crime they committed. And he added that Castro’s legacy was “complex, kind of like America’s legacy is complex.”
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Warnock previously has faced questions about his past statements, often during sermons. He once worked at a New York City that welcomed and celebrated late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in 1995, past news stories and Warnock's biography indicate.
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Warnock's campaign, though, says he was a junior member of the staff at the time Castro spoke at the church and was not a decision-maker.
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The 1995 event came as the U.S. allowed Castro to stay within a 25-mile radius of the United Nations in New York City, where he denounced the U.S.'s embargo on Cuba and received applause from some at the General Assembly.
Castro received a similarly warm reception at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where Warnock worked at the time. The Miami Herald reported at the time that Castro “blast[ed] the United States with the vigor that was missing from his speech to the United Nations earlier in the day and winding up the evening with a rousing rendition of the socialist hymn Internationale.”
In C-SPAN footage of the event, head pastor Calvin Butts seems to praise Castro, prompting chants of “Fidel! Fidel! Fidel!” from the audience. A translation of Castro's speech revealed him wondering why he was welcomed at the church, and noting that he changed from his business suit into military fatigues as he prepared for the event. He also described the blockade as "crazy" and "obsolete." What appears to be additional footage on YouTube pans to the audience cheering Castro.
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He has mentioned South Africa’s oppressive apartheid regime when discussing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, and been accused of sympathizing with Marxists and socialists. Meanwhile his opponent, incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, was accused by Warnock’s camp of standing with “White supremacists and QAnon conspiracy theorists” as the two campaigns stepped up attacks heading into the Jan. 5 runoff.
The Warnock campaign has not immediately responded to a request for comment on the Castro speech.
Warnock is vying to unseat Loeffler in one of two runoff elections for Georgia’s Senate seats.
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