On Friday, a boycott against the massive Goya Foods corporation kicked off when the company’s CEO praised Donald Trump. Robert Unanue, Goya’s CEO, appeared in the Rose Garden on Friday and signaled support of the current administration.
“We are all truly blessed … to have a leader like President Trump, who is a builder,” Unanue said in front of cameras. He continued, “We have an incredible builder, and we pray. We pray for our leadership, our president.”
Grocery stores sell Goya’s products alongside everything from pasta to arthritis pain medication. It is a massive corporation.
Following his remarks, the hashtag “Goyaway” was trending on Twitter Friday morning. Goya, which produces food products that many Latinx people purchase, is already suffering online backlash.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent Congressperson, tweeted a pithy remark Thursday afternoon.
“Oh look, it’s the sound of me Googling ‘how to make your own Adobo’”, the tweet reads, appended to a video of the remarks. Unanue’s statement was baffling to many Latin Americans, who largely do not support the president’s policies. Particularly, Trump’s immigration policies have been derided by Latinx people as dehumanizing and abhorrent.
Julian Castro, the Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary, also expressed his disgust with Unanue’s statement. “[Goya Foods] has been a staple of so many Latino households for generations. Now their CEO, Bob Unanue, is praising a president who villainizes and maliciously attacks Latinos for political gain. Americans should think twice before buying their products,” Castro tweeted.
In 2015, Trump kicked off his presidential bid by alleging that undocumented Mexican immigrants were “rapists” and criminals. He campaigned on a scant few policy goals, aside from a promise of a border wall between the United States and Mexico. During the campaign, Trump said many times that Mexico would pay for his wall.
The U.S. has built no such wall, but they have installed new fencing along some parts of the US/Mexico border. However, this fencing expansion has not been paid for in any amount by Mexico. Further, pundits excoriate Trump’s administration for their continued practice of separating children from parents when they enter the country from the Southern border.
The rallying cries of “no more kids in cages” has motivated many Latin people to vote in opposition to Trump. However, Unanue was at the White House for the Hispanic Prosperity Initiative. The Initiative’s original aim was ostensibly to help Hispanic communities get better access to education.
