Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Bill de Blasio’s Communist Pals
FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE ^ | NOV 4, 2013 | PAUL KENGOR

Posted on 11/04/2013 9:10:21 AM PST by Dqban22

Bill de Blasio’s Communist Pals

Posted By Paul Kengor and Spyridon Mitsotakis On November 4, 2013 @ 12:33 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 2 Comments

Reprinted from Spectator.org.

When the New York Times revealed that New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio had been an enthusiastic supporter of Nicaragua’s communist Sandinista regime, old arguments from the 1980s were suddenly rekindled, with renewed debate over the nature of that regime. The left once again emerged from the woodwork to insist that the Sandinistas were never bad guys (or even communists) — quite the contrary. The Times quickly published letters-to-the-editor whitewashing the Sandinistas’ tyranny, and one Times’ blogger went so far as to publish a post declaring: “Whatever their failings, the Sandinistas did not impose a repressive regime on their impoverished Central American nation. There was no mass jailing of opponents nor mass execution of opposing soldiers.”

Gee, that’s good — assuming that it’s even true. Of course, it isn’t true.

To cite just once source, the Russian-born scholar, Dr. Jamie Glazov, who came to America as a child when the KGB forced him and his pro-democracy, dissident parents into exile, is among those who beg to differ. Glazov wrote in his book, United in Hate:

The Sandinistas quickly distinguished themselves as one of the worst human rights abusers in Latin America, carrying out approximately 8,000 political executions within three years of the revolution. The number of “anti-revolutionary” Nicaraguans who disappeared while in Sandinista hands numbered in the thousands. By 1983, the number of political prisoners inside the new Marxist regime’s jails was estimated at 20,000. This was the highest number of political prisoners in any nation in the hemisphere — except, of course, in Castro’s Cuba. By 1986, a vicious and violent Sandinista “resettlement program” forced some 200,000 Nicaraguans into 145 “settlements” throughout the country. This monstrous social engineering program entailed the designation of “free-fire” zones in which Sandinista government troops shot and killed any peasant of their choosing.

Not long after the Times exposé, the New York Post published a column reminding New Yorkers of the Sandinistas’ ugly anti-Semitism — another undeniable truth. That was too much for the old “Sandalistas” (the sandal-wearing Sandinista fellow travelers who haunt the halls of American academe). The Nicaragua Network, of which de Blasio was once a leading member, issued a press release warning its faithful followers that the “New York Post resurrects lies about Nicaraguan revolution!” The Nicaragua Network assured the faithful that the information about Sandinista anti-Semitism were (naturally) just a bunch of CIA fabrications, and urged them to “Send letters to the editor!”

That battle cry was sounded. Sandalistas, unite!

Fortunately, some of those who know better are speaking up. Leading the charge is the former leftist-turned-conservative and Cold War scholar Ronald Radosh. “In the wake of a short Post article noting that Bill de Blasio ignored (at best) the anti-Semitism of the rulers of Nicaragua during his 1988 visit there,” Radosh wrote, “his supporters have insisted the Sandinista junta wasn’t anti-Semitic. In fact, the record is clear — and ugly.” Radosh also notes that “The official Sandinista newspaper, Barricada, ran an editorial in January 1990 in which it attributed distrust of their country by the ‘Yankee bureaucracy’ to the ‘traditional “Jew-style” with which the U.S. Congress manages the taxes of the taxpayers.’”

That newspaper, Barricada, which made those anti-Semitic remarks (and they weren’t the only ones), had American subscribers. One of them was Bill de Blasio, who, the New York Times reports, spent time and energy “hawking subscriptions” to other New Yorkers. Barricada, as Paul Berman reminds us, “was the most hardline of the Sandinista publications,” and was controlled by Sandinista Ministry of the Interior, Tomás Borge.

American Spectator readers will remember that infamous name from the 1980s. Here is what Radosh reminds us about this character:

Borge had been from the start, even in the period of pretend moderation, the regime’s enforcer. He was made minister of the Interior. He named the building which housed state security — something that Orwell might have dreamed up in his novel 1984 — the “Sentinel of the People’s Happiness,” which was proclaimed in a loud banner over the building’s front.

In his post, Borge contracted with the East German government to send a team of Stasi — that country’s hated secret police — to come to Nicaragua to train his own ministry’s agents in the type of techniques they used to control the populace. From East Germany and other Communist regimes in Eastern Europe he obtained advisors, communications equipment, uniforms, and other supplies. But what interested him most was concrete advice on how to use his spies to help concentrate power and give the FSLN complete control of the country. East Germany’s Stasi chief sent him a specially selected group of agents who, he promised Borge, would give them the ability and know-how to crush potential civilian opposition to the Sandinista regime.

He also liked to show the press how adept he was at fooling gullible Western fellow-travelers. Borge met them as he did me at one time in the 1980s — in his would-be office, behind which was a display of Christian crucifixes and a Bible sitting at his desk. Many would remark when they wrote about him how the hated security chief was really a believing Catholic and a religious individual. When they left, Borge would retreat to his actual office, which is the site at which he worked and which had no visible religious symbols of any kind. Of course, Borge used his ministry to regularly attack the Church, to deport opposition priests, and to give his support to an officially sponsored liberation church whose clerics backed the FSLN.

Liberation Theology, so backed and pushed by the KGB that it was practically a KGB-invention, famously became the center of a major clash between the Sandinistas and Pope John Paul II. When the Pope visited Nicaragua in 1983, the Sandinistas organized a mob to harass him at an open-air Mass in a failed attempt to embarrass him. (The Pope deftly countered them with style and panache and truth.)

Bill de Blasio, not surprisingly, is a follower of Liberation Theology.

Of course, the academy has come out in full-throttle defense of de Blasio. He is their product; he’s one of them. He has a degree in Latin American studies, which is no surprise to the two of us. Both of us have rich experiences in dealing with Latin American Studies departments, so we automatically see a red flag. That’s something we could vent about for hours. But, alas, that’s another subject for another time.

A subject for the here and how, however, is Bill de Blasio — almost certainly New York’s future mayor — and his support of a repressive Marxist regime. That regime was a Soviet/Cuban proxy in America’s backyard.

Fortunately, despite the likes of Bill de Blasio and the Sandinistas’ fellow travelers in their American lobby, Ronald Reagan’s support of the Contras in Nicaragua worked. A democratic election eventually took place, and the Sandinistas lost, as communists always do when they dare to (rarely) hold elections. Communism was halted there, as it was elsewhere in Latin America in the 1980s, from Grenada to less-known places like Suriname.

While the people of Latin America rejoiced in their freedom, Bill de Blasio wept for their enslavers. New Yorkers, should take note — assuming they even care.


TOPICS: Front Page News; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: deblasio; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkelection
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last

1 posted on 11/04/2013 9:10:21 AM PST by Dqban22
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: firebrand; rmlew

Another one. Probably nothing in here you didn’t know but just in case.


2 posted on 11/04/2013 9:13:30 AM PST by Black Agnes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22

8000 political executions in a country that size is HUGE.


3 posted on 11/04/2013 9:17:49 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22
Is there a Rat today that *isn't* a card carrying Maoist? It's just a question of how proudly they *proclaim* their Maoism.
4 posted on 11/04/2013 9:22:57 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (Osama Obama Care: A Religion That Will Have You On Your Knees!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22
And New York thought the banning of large sodas was over the top. They ain't seen nothin' yet. This guy makes Gloomberg look like our Founding Fathers!

Mexifornia and New Yawk are DC's two test beds for the Marxist Utopia of America. The disease spreads out from these two states and connects in the middle.

5 posted on 11/04/2013 9:26:53 AM PST by Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America (If Americans were as concerned for their country as Egyptians are, Obama would be ousted!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22

Unfortunately, it will only make him all the more popular with the NYC voters.


6 posted on 11/04/2013 9:32:39 AM PST by FrdmLvr ("WE ARE ALL OSAMA, 0BAMA!" al-Qaeda terrorists who breached the American compound in Benghazi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22

Barack-—ya see, you’re definitely not alone.


7 posted on 11/04/2013 9:33:54 AM PST by brooklyn dave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22

Absolutely terrible


8 posted on 11/04/2013 9:42:17 AM PST by therightliveswithus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22

I figured he was probably Mafia.


9 posted on 11/04/2013 9:48:20 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22

Think Detroit with Commie thugs.


10 posted on 11/04/2013 9:52:14 AM PST by RightGeek (FUBO and the donkey you rode in on)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22

Well, why shouldn’t NYC elect a Communist as mayor? They were all set to build a mosque next to the site of the WTC. Welcome to Acirema.


11 posted on 11/04/2013 10:00:15 AM PST by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22

I wouldn’t expect anything less from the DNA pool of NYC


12 posted on 11/04/2013 10:15:30 AM PST by Farnsworth (Now playing in America: "Stupid is the new normal")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gay State Conservative

Communism responsible for 100 million deaths. Nazism responsible for 25 million. I wonder how many people would vote for Bill duh-Blasio if he wore a Nazi uniform clicked his heels together and yelled Sieg heil! But because he’s a commie it’s perfectly cool and OK. It’s amazing to me how the public it completely brainwashed when it comes to communism. Communism = death, plain and simple. Look at Obama and Obamacare. Already I was reading cancer patients who are in the midst of cancer treatments are having their insurance cancelled, so here we go: People once again are going to lose their lives to communism! That shet is no joke and I directly blame our schools and the media for why we get these subhuman pieces of pig vomit in office. People are just completely in the dark about the horrors of communism.


13 posted on 11/04/2013 10:34:29 AM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (What do we want? Time travel. When do we want it? It's irrelevant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: FrdmLvr
Unfortunately, it will only make him all the more popular with the NYC voters.

The deterioration of most large cities is profound...
14 posted on 11/04/2013 10:53:50 AM PST by BigEdLB (Now there ARE 1,000,000 regrets - but it may be too late.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22

What do the polls say? I bet you DeBlasio is over 2/3 of the vote...


15 posted on 11/04/2013 10:56:12 AM PST by BigEdLB (Now there ARE 1,000,000 regrets - but it may be too late.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22

when John Vliet DeBlasio takes over NYC will be back in hell


16 posted on 11/04/2013 10:58:31 AM PST by hecht (america 9/11, Israel 24/7)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22

New York in the late 60’s and 70’s was a dysfunctional cesspool. Looks like today’s New Yorkers are hell bent to go back to that.


17 posted on 11/04/2013 11:23:26 AM PST by colorado tanker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Black Agnes
No one cares. People forgot the bad old days or have moved here since and assume a low crime city is the natural state of affairs. Democrat in all but name Bloomberg purchased two and won one Republican nomination so the hoi polloi assume he’s a Republican. After 12 years of Bloomberg, they FEEL the nees foe a change. Rational thought and basic knowledge are not required. I'm not talking about people on welfare. College educated people, and those with doctorates are really this ignorant. Meanwhile Republicans are horribly dispirited, which will suppress turnout. Lhota may carry White Catholics, and perhaps even Jews, but will lose the White Vote. Everywhere else, it's a rout.
18 posted on 11/04/2013 11:34:57 AM PST by rmlew ("Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Dqban22
De Blasio has legally changed his name twice. Born Warren Wilhelm, Jr., he changed his name in 1983 to Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm to incorporate his maternal grandparents’ name. Then around 1990 when he got into electoral politics he legally changed his name again to Bill de Blasio. The record indicates that de Blasio’s entire working career has been either with government agencies or Leftist non-profits like the Quixote Center that aided the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
19 posted on 11/04/2013 12:18:01 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rmlew

The NYC Jews will vote for him 2:1, also. They voted in that ratio for the Marxist in the White Hut, so what’s the difference?


20 posted on 11/04/2013 12:35:40 PM PST by BlueStateRightist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson