Exclusive | Mamdani-backed candidate peddled crackpot COVID-19 claim pushed by Chinese communists
A far-left congressional candidate backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani peddled a crackpot COVID-19 theory that said the virus originated in France – and quoted a Chinese communist propaganda organ as evidence.Candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier spewed the bizarre claim in an unearthed tweet from 2020, citing as her source the Qiao Collective, a known propaganda organ for China.“So you mean that once again it was PoC who intervened and stopped the spread of a European plague? Wow.Shocked,” Avila Chevalier said in a May 10, 2020 tweet, apparently referring to “people of color.”Qiao said earlier that day that “Hospitals in France confirmed that France had COVID-19 outbreaks in November, a month before China.”Collective describes itself as “a grassroots media organization of Chinese diaspora writers, artists, and researchers dedicated to challenging Western media narratives and U.S.
aggression against China.”“We seek to be a bridge between the U.S.left and China’s rich Marxist, anti-imperialist political work and thought in order to foster critical consideration of the role of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics in contemporary geopolitics.”The group said a majority of its members are diaspora Chinese people living in the West.The France first theory has been widely debunked.There’s a wide consensus in the scientific and intelligence communities that COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China — whether from a wholesale market or a lab leak in close proximity in Wuhan.Avila Chevalier, 32, is seeking to topple veteran Rep.
Adriano Espaillat in the 13th House district that covers the northern Manhattan neighborhoods of Morningside Heights, Harlem, Washington Heights/Inwood and the northwest Bronx.She is endorsed by Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America.State Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs, an Espaillat backer, said Avila Chevalier is not ready for prime time after hearing of her peddling a COVID-19 conspiracy theory during th...