De Blasio Draws Fire For Quoting Che Guevara At Miami Rally

NEW YORK — Maybe he should have stuck to the stump speech. Mayor Bill de Blasio apologized Thursday after he drew bipartisan outrage for quoting the Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara at a rally in Miami.

De Blasio appeared at a rally with striking workers at Miami International Airport following his appearance in Wednesday night's preisdential debate. Toward the end of his remarks, he said, "Hasta la victoria siempre," a saying of Guevara's that translates to "Until victory, always," video from the scene shows.

The slogan drew cheers from the airport crowd but condemnation from Florida officials, given that Miami is home to many Cubans who fled the revolution that Guevara helped lead.

"This is completely unacceptable!" Annette Taddeo, a Democratic Florida state senator from Miami, said on Twitter. "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!"

Another Democratic lawmaker, state Sen. José Javier Rodríguez, called on de Blasio to apologize. Both lawmakers were at the rally but left before de Blasio spoke, according to the legislators.

"Quoting a murderer responsible for death & oppression in communist Cuba and throughout Latin America is not acceptable," Rodríguez tweeted, adding that many of the striking workers are Cuban.

The Miami-Dade Democratic Party compared de Blasio's use of the phrase to President Donald Trump's praise for Kim Jong-un, saying elected officials should "stop glorifying mass murderers."

"The statement made by @BilldeBlasio was unacceptable," the party said on Twitter. "The Mayor should immediately retract it and apologize to the victims of the mass murder he quoted and the community at large."

De Blasio's comment also drew fire from U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican who was previously Florida's governor.

"In case there was any doubt about the Democrats running for President embracing socialism, @BilldeBlasio is in Miami quoting...Che Guevara. You can’t make this up," Scott said on Twitter.

De Blasio apologized in a pair of tweets, saying he didn’t know the phrase he used was tied to the controversial revolutionary. He only meant to tell the striking workers that he believed they would win, he said.

“I did not know the phrase I used in Miami today was associated with Che Guevara & I did not mean to offend anyone who heard it that way,” de Blasio tweeted. “I certainly apologize for not understanding that history.”

Guevara played a major role in the revolution led by Fidel Castro, whose takeover of the island nation spurred massive Cuban migration to the United States.

The Cuban population in America ballooned from 79,000 in 1960 to 439,000 in 1970, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Florida was home to more than three quarters of the nation's Cuban population from 2011 to 2015, the institute says.