Bernie Sanders refused to back down on his controversial support for Cuba’s late Communist dictator Fidel Castro during Sunday’s Democratic presidential debate.

When asked why Cuban Americans should vote for him after he praised Castro’s literacy program despite his human rights abuses, Sanders pivoted to another Communist country: China.

“I think you can make the same point about China. China is undoubtedly an authoritarian society,” Sanders said.

“Okay, but would anybody deny, would any economists deny, that extreme poverty in China today is much less than what it was 40 or 50 years ago? That’s a fact,” he added.

“I think we condemn authoritarianism whether it’s in China, Russia, Cuba or anyplace else, but to simply say that nothing ever done by any of those administrations had a positive impact on their people would, I think, be incorrect.”

The comments lost Sanders a lot of love from Cuban American lawmakers and voters in the Sunshine State which votes in Florida’s Democratic primary on Tuesday.

Florida Democrats fumed after the self-described socialist heaped praised on Castro during an interview on “60 Minutes” last month.