Ramos and Bernie talk "Democratic Socialism"

MRC Latino | September 13, 2019
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JORGE RAMOS: Senator Sanders, one country where many immigrants are arriving from is Venezuela. A recent U.N. fact-finding mission found that thousands have been disappeared, tortured, and killed by government forces in Venezuela. You admit that Venezuela does not have free elections, but you refuse to call Nicolas Maduro "un dictador"...a dictator. Can you explain why? And what are the differences between your kind of socialism, and the ones being imposed in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua?

BERNIE SANDERS: Well, first of all, let me be very clear. Anybody that does what Maduro does is a vicious tyrant. What we need now is international and regional cooperation for free elections in Venezuela so that the people of that country can make...create their own future. In terms of democratic socialism. To equate what goes on in Venezuela with what I believe is extremely unfair. I'll tell you what I believe in terms of democratic socialism. I agree with goes on in Canada and in Scandinavia, guaranteeing health care to all people as a human right. I believe that the United States should not be the only major country on Earth not to provide paid family and medical leave. I believe that every worker in this country deserves a living wage and that we expand the trade union movement. I happen to believe also that what, to me, democratic socialism means, is we deal with an issue we do not discuss enough, Jorge...not in the media, and not in Congress. You got three people in America owning more wealth than the bottom half of this country. You got a handful of billionaires controlling what goes on in Wall Street, the insurance companies and in the media.  Maybe, just maybe, what we should be doing is creating an economy that works for all of us, not 1%. That's my understanding of democratic socialism. 

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