--- title: Bill de Blasio Tried His Hand at Spanish. It Didn't Go Well description: Democratic candidate Bill de Blasio miscalculated the impact of quoting Cuban revolutionary leader Che Guevara in Miami. He later apologized. canonical: https://time.com/5616508/bill-de-blasio-spanish-blunder/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-06-27T23:34:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:52:33.770Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bill de Blasio Tried His Hand at Spanish. He Ended Up in Hot 'Agua' og:description: He angered some Miami residents after uttering a Che Guevara quote in Spanish og:url: https://time.com/5616508/bill-de-blasio-spanish-blunder/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5eeb5f87956df7ac/6989ff47457a5201cbd626ef/bill-de-blasio-miami-che-cuba.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Democratic Presidential Candidates Participate In First Debate Of 2020 Election Over Two Nights og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bill de Blasio Tried His Hand at Spanish. He Ended Up in Hot 'Agua' twitter:description: He angered some Miami residents after uttering a Che Guevara quote in Spanish twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5eeb5f87956df7ac/6989ff47457a5201cbd626ef/bill-de-blasio-miami-che-cuba.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bill de Blasio Tried His Hand at Spanish. He Ended Up in Hot _Agua_ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jun 27, 2019 11:34 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio prepares for a television interview in the spin room before the second night of the first Democratic presidential debate June 27, 2019 in Miami, Florida. Democratic presidential candidate New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio prepares for a television interview in the spin room before the second night of the first Democratic presidential debate June 27, 2019 in Miami, Florida.Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jun 27, 2019 11:34 PM UTC Democratic candidate Bill de Blasio miscalculated the impact of inadvertently quoting Marxist revolutionary leader Che Guevara in Miami, city home to a large population of Cuban refugees who left their home because of said revolution. Following his appearance at the [first Democratic primary debate Wednesday night](https://time.com/5608626/first-2020-democratic-debate-latest-news/), the New York City mayor joined a rally for striking workers at the Miami International Airport and shouted, “Hasta la victoria, siempre!” The Spanish phrase, which means “Until victory, always!” is a well-known saying of Guevara, who helped Fidel Castro take power during the 1959 Cuban Revolution. > [](https://twitter.com/lizroldancbs4/status/1144319115005480961) > [](https://twitter.com/taydolven/status/1144304133031235584) De Blasio’s use of the phrase did not land well in Miami. Democratic Florida state Sen. Annette Taddeo said she was “utterly disgusted” in a tweet. “This is completely unacceptable,” she wrote. > [](https://twitter.com/Annette%5FTaddeo/status/1144327401121468416) State Sen. José Javier Rodríguez demanded de Blasio apologize. > [](https://twitter.com/JoseJavierJJR/status/1144322735214080000) De Blasio did apologize on Thursday, saying he wasn’t aware of the barbed history behind the phrase. > [](https://twitter.com/BilldeBlasio/status/1144359872277942272) > [](https://twitter.com/BilldeBlasio/status/1144359874630967296) Speaking on CNN Thursday afternoon, de Blasio issued another apology. “I do apologize because I didn’t understand the context,” he said. “I literally understood it as a Spanish translation.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5616508/bill-de-blasio-spanish-blunder/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5616508/bill-de-blasio-spanish-blunder/"},"headline":"Bill de Blasio Tried His Hand at Spanish. 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