A Florida businessman who escaped Cuba as a teenager warned against the dangers of communism and radicals within the Democratic Party on Monday evening during the Republican National Convention.
“I’ve seen movements like this before. I’ve seen ideas like this before. I am here to tell you — we cannot let them take over our country,” Maximo Alvarez said. “I heard the promises of Fidel Castro. And I can never forget all those who grew up around me, who looked like me, who suffered and starved and died because they believed those empty promises. They swallowed the communist poison pill.”
As I watched Máximo Álvarez tonight, I heard the the voice of the abuelo I never met because he died in one of Castro’s political prisons, the voice of my dad who fought for Cuba’s freedom, and my family and the loved ones I grew up with. Powerful. ¡Gracias Máximo! #RNC2020 ???? https://t.co/14MEIzJIIt
— Giancarlo Sopo (@GiancarloSopo) August 25, 2020
Alvarez fled Cuba to the United States in 1961 as part of Operation Pedro Pan, which brought more than 14,000 minors to the U.S. as dictator Fidel Castro rose in power in Cuba. He went on to found Sunshine Gasoline Distributors in South Florida.
Maximo Alvarez was born in Cuba. At 13, in 1961, he came to the US as part of Operation “Pedro Pan.” He is now the founder of Sunshine Gasoline & living the American Dream.
Alvarez is a supporter of Pres. Trump & an outspoken opponent of communism.#RNC2020
— GOP (@GOP) August 25, 2020
“The country I was born in is gone, totally destroyed,” Alvarez said. “When I watch the news in Seattle and Chicago and Portland, when I see history being rewritten, when I hear the promises — I hear echoes of a former life I never wanted to hear again. I see shadows I thought I had outrun.”
“President Trump is fighting the forces of anarchy and communism. And now he will continue to do just that. And what about his opponent and the rest of the D.C. swamp? I have no doubt they will hand the country over to those dangerous forces,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez also teared up during his speech recounting how much the U.S. means to him.
“I may be Cuban born, but I am 100% American,” he said. “This is the greatest country in the world. If I gave away everything I have today, it would not equal 1% of what I was given when I came to this great country of ours: The gift of freedom,” he said, as he began to tear up.
“I still hear my dad: ‘There is no other place to go,’” he added.
The RNC kicked off its first night of speeches on Monday, featuring remarks from Sen. Tim Scott and Maryland congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik, among others.
