Senator Kelly Loeffler falsely accuses her rival of honoring Fidel Castro

Kelly Loeffler, who this Tuesday seeks to preserve his place in the Senate and with it the Republican control of that congressional chamber, insisted on pointing out that his opponent, the Reverend Raphael Warnock, paid tribute to Fidel Castro.

That is false. 

In a tweet four hours after the polls closed in Georgia, the Republican candidate launched several accusations against Warnock, including that he paid tribute to the Cuban dictator.

Loeffler was obviously referring to the best-known Castro: Fidel Castro. 

It is not the first time the senator has accused Warnock of sympathizing with the late Cuban dictator, based on a visit Castro made to the Abyssinian Baptist Church as part of a trip to New York in October 1995.

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At the time, Warnock was a pastor to the Abyssinian youth, where he began working in 1991 when he was in his twenties.

But in the video of Castro's visit, Warnock does not appear on the stand, nor is there evidence that he participated in the decision to host Castro on the Abyssinian.

In fact, it is the church's pastor, Calvin Butts III, who welcomes Castro to the congregation.   

Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler and President Donald Trump during an event with their supporters this Monday, January 4, in Dalton, Georgia.

Brian Snyder / Reuters

However, Loeffler has distorted the fact.

He has used it in a television commercial and, like today, he has repeated it on social networks. 

"Reverend Warnock honored Fidel Castro and welcomed him into his church: he is another example of what we have been saying all along: he is the most dangerous and radical candidate in the United States," Loeffler said in a November 10 tweet. 

Days later, in an interview on CNN, Warnock was asked about the attacks he was targeting, including his alleged connection to Castro. 

"I had nothing to do with that program, I did not make any decisions about the program" (from Castro's visit to Abyssinian), "he said.

“I never met the Cuban dictator.

I have no relationship with him, ”he added, assuring that he had never celebrated Castro's legacy.

In a debate early last month between Loeffler and Warnock, the Castro issue was also present.

On that occasion, Warnock said the following: "I never met him, I never invited him."

"It has nothing to do with me," Warnock added about Castro's visit to his old church more than 25 years ago.

Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock speaks at a campaign event on November 19, 2020 in Jonesboro, Georgia.Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images

In December, a 2016 video came to light that seeks to test Warnock's sympathy for Castro.

Shortly after the death of the Cuban dictator in November of that year, during a service in which Warnock spoke about incarceration policies in the United States, the pastor said from the pulpit of his church: “We pray for the people of Cuba in this moment.

We remember Fidel Castro, whose legacy is complex, ”without adding whether it was positive or negative. 

"His legacy is complex like America's legacy is complex," Warnock said.

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