The Democrats’ socialist candidate for President of the United States, Bernie Sanders, was seriously tripped up this week in an interview with Univision’s León Krauze.
When asked to explain the failure of socialist governments in Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil, Sanders completely clammed up, saying he has an opinion on the subject, but was unwilling to share it, as he is “focused on my campaign.”
LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: I am sure that you know about this topic: various leftist governments, especially the populists, are in serious trouble in Latin America. The socialist model in Venezuela has the country near collapse. Argentina, also Brazil, how do you explain that failure?
BERNIE SANDERS, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: You are asking me questions…
LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: I am sure you’re interested in that.
BERNIE SANDERS, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: I am very interested, but right now I’m running for President of the United States.
LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: So you don’t have an opinion about the crisis in Venezuela?
BERNIE SANDERS, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: Of course I have an opinion, but as I said, I’m focused on my campaign.
There you have it folks. Bernie Sanders is too busy selling socialism in the United States to discuss the catastrophic effects of socialism in major neighboring countries in the region like Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina. How…convenient. That’s not what his history of statements in favor of Castro in Cuba, Ortega in Nicaragua, or any of his other past endorsements of socialist governments in Latin America indicate.
Univision and Telemundo have actually distinguished themselves as the two principal U.S. broadcast networks that have devoted large blocks of coverage recently to the crisis of socialism in Venezuela, while thus far ABC, CBS and NBC have neglected to inform their audiences of the situation.
Below is the transcript of the referenced segment, broadcast during the May 23, 2016 edition of Univision’s Edición Nocturna. Note that the transcript below is translated from the Spanish version of the interview presented on Univision, as the original English audio has not been made available.
UNIVISION
NOTICIERO UNIVISION: EDICION NOCTURNA
5/23/16
11:36:03 PM – 11:38:35 PM EST | 2 MIN 31 SEC
ARANTXA LOIZAGA, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: For Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, winning the California primary is vital in order to remain in the contest for the White House, because according to him, that could perhaps make the superdelegates that support Hillary Clinton change their minds and support him at the Democratic National Convention, which he warned tonight could be quite conflictive, according to the Senator. Our colleague León Krauze of Univision Los Angeles conversed with Sanders this afternoon, and among other topics, Krauze asked him if there was any situation in which he would consider not backing Secretary Clinton. This is how he answered.
BERNIE SANDERS: If we do not win, I will spend all of my energy…
BERNIE SANDERS: [From translated remarks on Univision] If for any reason we do not win, I will invest all my energy to prevent Donald Trump from becoming President.
LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: You’ve said that the War on Drugs has been a failure. Does that include Mexico? Does that include the war against drugs the Mexican government started more than ten years ago?
BERNIE SANDERS: The drug cartels in Mexico have accumulated incredible amounts of money. It is incredible the amount of violence they generate. The Mexican cartels have bribed politicians that now are in situations that are very hard.
LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: Your campaign has invited to today’s event Alejandro Solalinde, a Mexican activist whose life mission is to protect Central American migrants that cross Mexico under very difficult conditions. What’s your opinion about the way Mexico treats those migrants?
BERNIE SANDERS: There are people that come from Honduras, Guatemala, and other countries through Mexico to the United States, and they force them to return to Honduras and other countries in Central America. Even running the risk of being killed by the drug cartels or organized crime when they go back.
LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: Do you think the deportation of gang members that learned everything in U.S. prisons is damaging Central American nations?
BERNIE SANDERS: You are asking me questions about the impact to Central America, and honestly I wouldn’t be able to say anything new other than what we already know now. All I can say is that we need to cut all connections with drug kingpins. In this country we have an epidemic with heroin and that has to end.
LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: I am sure that you know about this topic: various leftist governments, especially the populists, are in serious trouble in Latin America. The socialist model in Venezuela has the country near collapse. Argentina, also Brazil, how do you explain that failure?
BERNIE SANDERS: You are asking me questions…
LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: I am sure you’re interested in that.
BERNIE SANDERS: I am very interested, but right now I’m running for President of the United States.
LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: So you don’t have an opinion about the crisis in Venezuela?
BERNIE SANDERS: Of course I have an opinion, but as I said, I’m focused on my campaign.
