SAN JOSE, Calif. �� As the world reacted with mixed feelings to the death of Fidel Castro, a Bay Area member of Congress who has visited Cuba more than 20 times called him a global leader who should be mourned.
"We need to stop and pause and mourn his loss," Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said in a phone interview.
When she learned the news, Lee said, "I was very sad for the Cuban people. "He led a revolution in Cuba that led social improvements for his people."
In her eight meetings with Castro over the years, Lee said, she found him to be "a smart man. A historian. He wanted normal relations with the United States but not at the expense of the accomplishments of the revolution."
Lee is widely regarded as one of the most liberal members of the House. She was the only no vote on the invasion of Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks.
She called for the U.S. to speed the full economic relations with Cuba and ending the trade embargo with Cuba.
When President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday blurted out in a tweet "Fidel Castro is dead!" it showed Trump's unfitness for office, Lee said.
"It's not presidential at all," she said. "This not how you react as a world leader."
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