RADICAL CHIC: Leading Democratic VP contender Bass defends stance on Cuba. “Bass said she was trying to express her condolences to the Cuban people when she referred to Castro as ‘Comandante en jefe,’ a term that roughly translates as commander in chief but is reviled by some Cuban exiles in Florida. Bass, who represents California in Congress, said she was unaware of the phrase’s political significance in Florida when she issued the 2016 statement, which called Castro’s death a “great loss to the people of Cuba’.”