'It was only under democracy that black people had leadership roles.' Cuban exile leader says 1619 Project founder 'needs to read some Cuban history'

The leader of a US Cuban exile group has slammed 1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones after she claimed Cuba had the 'least inequality between black and white people' thanks to its socialist government.

Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat spoke out against the New York Times journalist Tuesday after a 2019 podcast where she called the communist country one of the most 'equal' in the world, resurfaced online.

The Havana-born scholar, who is based in Miami, said Hannah-Jones's remarks do not 'reflect the reality of Cuban history', noting there has actually been a lack of black leadership on the island since the 1959 revolution - which saw dictator Fidel Castro ascend to power.

'There is a very simple comparison you can make that shows how wrong this statement by Nikole Hannah-Jones is,' Gutierrez-Boronat told DailyMail.com.