Miami – Mitt Romney held a campaign event Monday evening at a Miami juice shop owned by a convicted cocaine trafficker.
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Romney appeared at El Palacio de los Jugos, which is owned by Reinaldo Bermudez. Court records show that Bermudez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in 1999 and served three years in federal prison.
Appearing with Romney was Sen. Marco Rubio. Both men handed out juices to an excited crowd after making brief remarks. Romney was filming a campaign ad at the juice shop, aides said.
The Romney campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Phone calls placed by The Associated Press to the juice shop weren’t answered.
Bermudez told the Miami New Times that the Secret Service vetted everything about him when the Romney campaign asked to use his fresh fruit and vegetable stand and that they knew about his criminal record.
“Here in Miami there are a lot people with money who have had problems with the law,” Bermudez told the New Times. “Thankfully, we all have the opportunity in this country to re-enter society when we’ve done something wrong.”
In media reports in November 1997, Bermudez was identified as one of 12 people accused in a Colombian drug smuggling operation. The arrests followed a seven-month investigation led by the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Agents seized about 2,850 pounds of cocaine at three South Florida ports over several months.
Agents first seized 430 pounds of cocaine at the Port of Palm Beach in July 1997 and then 117 pounds in late September at the Port of Miami. Those shipments were concealed in containers filled with fish imported from Trinidad, an island in the south Caribbean. The largest and final seizure came in late October at Port Everglades, where officials found 2,304 pounds of cocaine in a container of soap imported from Venezuela.
Authorities learned of all three cocaine shipments through court-authorized wiretaps on four of the suspects’ home, office and cellular telephones, according to media reports.
As a convicted felon, Bermudez wouldn’t be eligible to vote in Florida unless the governor and the Cabinet restore his rights.
Really? So what?
How much did you know about your landlord when you rented *your* store, office or home?
Who cares? He served his time. Should we punish him forever by bringing it up at every opportunity?
I am sorry that this country finds a One-time offender to be news. Hasn’t anyone heard of teshuvah? If a guy runs a legitimate business and has learned from his mistakes, they shouldn’t haunt him the rest of his life. Take bill Clinton. Does anyone think Monica L was the only woman he oggled
Why can’t people just live & let live?! The man who owns the juice bar where Mitt Romney went to get his drink, got convicted of a felony back in 1999 for distributing cocaine, but he DID his time & paid his consequences for it, so what’s the issue?! Once people have served their time & paid the cost for their crimes… I thought they deserved a 2nd chance at Life?!
I don’t see what the big issue is here! We have bigger fish to fry w\Romney’s policies, than we do worrying about who runs the juice bar he visited last week or whatever!
Having said that howver, to be fair… if the Presidebt visited a juice bar ran by a convicted drug dealer…a LOT of political “hay” would be made out of the incident!
Just sayin! LOL
He’s just an entrepeneur.
didn’t we have a president recently who admitted to drug USE? sorry I forgot he didn’t inhale!
that juice man was caught.
WHY ARENT THE CHICAGO POLITICIANS CAUGHT YET?
WHY oh why arent the black panthers on the penn steps to court house preventing and threatening WHITE voters indicted?
why wasnt and isn’t obama vetted yet for EVERYTHING?
I read the rules to submit this post…
why didnt obamas democrate party read the rules for their candidates?
The irony of the story, it seems like the previous comments don’t recognize, isn’t that someone did something a decade ago and people refuse to enable him to return to productive society.
The reason the article was written was because of the obvious irony (or humor) that a presidential candidate opted to seek votes at a platform hosted by someone ineligible to ever vote.
Even undocumented immigrants can be later naturalized (whereas a felon loses the right to vote or hold office in perpetuity).
They would have also written an article if a political candidate went door-to-door campaigning residents in Puerto Rico (whose residents, too, cannot vote) just for the media absurdity of it (one could argue that they could always move to the mainland, change their residency, agree to be subject to US income taxes, and then register to vote – but the idea is the same: the humor and irony factor).
And OblameO pals around with unrepentant terrorists who bombed federal & state buildings. He got his political start with them IN THEIR LIVING ROOM. He CONTINUES to pal with them.
Obama is the evil one here but the libs and bruthuhs won’t see it that way.
It seems as if the previous comments are missing the point of why the article was written.
The subject of this news item isn’t someone’s past, nor their guilt, nor second chances, nor any moral dilemma or debate:
It simply is the irony and humor factor – a candidate for political office seeking potential votes, where the very host has had his right to vote permanently taken away.
That’s all.
It would be the same if he would go knocking door-to-door in Puerto Rico asking for support at the polls – surely an AP or Reuters journalist would syndicate that news article as well, for the irony/humor factor.
Ahhhh… just as I thought: A TON of excuses being made for Romney’s staff dropping the ball & having him show up at a juice stand ran by a former felon, but G-d forbid our President knew a man who once had a criminal history as well, and that’s unforgivable! Come on! At least be rational!
YES- the President smoked marijuana & tried cocaine when he was younger! So?! Are the current President’s daughters (Mahlia & Sasha) sneaking out of the White House & getting drunk, like a certain set of twins who once lived there not long ago?! And George W. Bush had a problem w\cocaine & alcohol, but I’m sure everyone here will make EXCUSES for him… but NO BREAKS for President Obama right?!
Your complaints are SO transparent, not to mention a total joke! Either it “offends” you when they ALL do it…. or you should LET IT GO when they all do it!
It’s in the past! None of these people do drugs, associate w\convicted felons all the time, or do anything illegal… so why be SO irrational about President Obama, but continue to make excuses for everyone else?!
Everyone else, with an (R) next to their name that is!
Like I said… your complaints are transparent & a total joke!