Flashback: Bernie Sanders Calls Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega ‘an Impressive Guy’

EXCERPT:

SANDERS: “They have very deep convictions, which people can disagree with, and I think what is understood is even within the Sandinista government they're not monolithic. There are some who are, you know, more socialistic than others, there are priests who hold — you have at least two priests, Ernesto Cardenal is a priest, then Father d’Escoto is a priest, many different, so there are different points of view, they are not monolithic. I was impressed by Father d’Escoto and the thought that — I visited him when he was having his fast, when he was fasting. And my thought is if this guy is the leader, Ronald Reagan has decided that Nicaragua is a terrorist nation, and if this guy is the foreign minister of a terrorist nation, then they should get another foreign minister, because he is a very gentle, very loving man. He's familiar with Burlington, Vermont. He had a niece who graduated from Saint Michael's College actually, who's not working for the government in Nicaragua. Ortega is an impressive guy, Ernesto Cardenal is a funny looking guy, his grey hair, and he really does remind you of a hippie, Ernesto — in fact, you know, we talked, he's very strongly into poetry, he is very proud of the fact that they are now teaching poetry not only to peasants and to workers, but in the military, in the police department, a very impressive guy."