The appearance of Miami’s Max Alvarez, owner of Sunshine Gasoline Distributors, at the Republican National Convention Monday was praised by many as one of the most compelling speeches of the night, a striking testimonial from a successful businessman reflective of the Cuban-American success story.
But one important local Republican has called Alvarez a fan and 
enabler of the repressive and authoritarian Nicolas Maduro dictatorship.
Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who last week was elected Republican State Committeeman — an influential position as the county’s representative at the state GOP — has railed for years against Alvarez, who is said to own more than 300 gas stations, including some Citgo stations, which sell gasoline derived from Venezuelan oil.
He put a photo of Alvarez next to one of Maduro and a Citgo logo after a PAC that got $50,000 from Sunshine Gasoline sent out a negative mailer on him in the middle of the 2018 special election for county commission District 5. Diaz de la Portilla was running against Zoraida Barreiro, the wife of former Commissioner Bruno Barreiro — who had resigned to run (unsuccessfully) for Congress — and Eileen Higgins , who eventually won the runoff after ADLP got cut out in round 1.
Read related: Another shady PAC attacks Zoraida Barreiro in county commission race
“Maximo Alvarez is the ultimate defender against government sanctions on the oil of the drug trafficking dictatorship of Venezuela and, as such, he can continue to enrich himself, selling the gasoline that the dictatorship steals from the Venezuelan people,” read the mailer sent by ADLP’s PAC, Proven Leadership 
for Miami-Dade County. “Maximo Alvarez, the largest distributor of Venezuelan Citgo gasoline through his company, Sunshine Gasoline Distributors, is the one who finances the dirty and defamatory campaign against Alex Diaz de la Portilla to help Zoraida Barreiro because he fears the independent voice of Diaz de de la Portilla.”
The independent voice of Diaz de la Portilla declined to be heard in this story. The Dean did not return a phone call or several text messages (his voice mail was full).
As late as August 2017, Diaz de la Portilla’s mailer said, Alvarez said that Doralzuelans and Miami Cuban-Americans were “equivocados” when they boycotted against Venezuelan Citgo stations. It said that Barreiro was “benefiting from the sale of oil stolen from the Venezuelan people” and using it to “defame her opponent.”
But Nelson Diaz, the chairman of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade, says el equivocado is ADLP.
“Max Alvarez is a hero, an anti-socialist and a true conservative,” Diaz said, adding that Alvarez had Citgo stations early in exile and started divesting himself of them after the Hugo Chavez regime took over the South American country. “That’s why Max was at the RNC and Alex was not.”
Diaz said that, as a Cuban-American, it was good to see the exile community represented on the RNC stage.
Read related: In dirty Miami-Dade District 5 race, front runners are both ‘communists’
The GOP chair, who steps down in December after eight years, reminded Ladra that Alex did some 
freelance consulting for several Democrat campaigns, incuding former Florida gubornatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, State Sen. Annette Taddeo and, las malas lenguas say, Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who is the communist du jour now that baby brother Renier Diaz de la Portilla is running against her.
While The Dean’s PAC attacks Higgins for Baby DLP in a TV ad where she is called a companera and shown wearing a Che Guevara beret on her head, he also reportedly used the same PAC in 2018 to help la gringa beat Barreiro after he came in third place in the first round. He is a kind of a sore loser like that.
So, naturally, Ladra wanted to know how ADLP likes Max now that he’s tied to a different dictator. The Dean, who couldn’t shut up after his brother came in second in last week’s commission race, hasn’t texted a word about Alvarez Tuesday. He probably wishes he never lashed out to what is now one of Trump’s favorite Cubans.
But facts are stubborn things.
Max Alvarez: GOP success story or enabler of dictators? Ask Miami’s ADLP added by Ladra on
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Why do so many Cubans support dicators? Castro et al? Trump Crime Family?
Lol that can be said of any party line Republican AND Democrat .
People lower their standards as long as they agree with the politicians platform / ideology .
Cubans stand out because unlike EVERY other Hispanic group in Miami , no one has to hold our hand to get us to vote .
I know plenty of the bunch I call The Calle Ocho’s who are not voting for Trump but regardless of Trump or Biden we vote , the other Hispanic groups should try it .
Mr Alvarez is a success story like any other great immigrant success story. But the fact that a Cuban like him would tear him down confirms the fact that all Cubans are COMEMIERDAS and Envidiosos (envy being a bad trait in Cubans)! Rejoice his prosperity ok let it go be happy👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽❤️
I am a Cuban so don’t think about chewing me out!😂😂😂
I think you are missing the point , perhaps on purpose .
People who criticize him are not envious of him , they disagree with his support of Trump .
He has every right to support who he wants , those who disagree have the same right .
I remember when Gloria Estefan supported Obama and plenty in Miami criticized her , they weren’t jealous of her success , they simply did not agree with her politics .
” I for one I’m proud that this gentleman who came to the US penniless as a child was able to succeed in business and make a good life for himself and his family in our new country.”
I completely agree but people have every right to criticize , disagree with his politics , etc . You seem to want a lock step ant like thinking and that is no good .
We do not tear each other down but we have every right to disagree and to voice it . He has every right to voice his political opinion , his support for a candidate / party but others have the same right to disagree and say it .
Vicente E. Arrebola,
There is a saying which I think applies to many if not most on both sides of the isle regardless of race / ethnicity ” I hate dictators unless I agree with them ” .
I don’t think most who vote for Trump are voting for Trump per-se but voting AGAINST the Democrats and feel the same about those voting for Biden , they are simply voting AGAINST Republicans .
Cubans vote at a high percentage in every election not just once every 4 years which is a concept the other Hispanic ” tribes ” will NEVER grasp and being Cuban like you I am proud of this but yes I wish locally they would kick ALL these musical chair , career flunky politicos to the curb , lol .
My father is voting full Rep, my mother full Dem ( they aren’t in Miami ) . Both my sisters in California full Rep but not for Trump and my brother in laws ( not Hispanic ) full Dem but not for Biden and so far all still married , lol so more and more of our vote is up for grabs but regardless of Trump or Biden I have respect for anyone who votes because the political apathy in Miami is horrifying .
I’m in Doral which think has a 20 percent average voting percentage , Think Cubans here are now 15 percent .
Do you think that because you are Cuban you are the only “tribe” (really nice term you use for the rest of the Latin Americans that we live in this country) that had to endure a tyranny in their lifetime? Look at how many countries in Latin America had to suffer from governments surged from coups d’etat (mostly supported by Washington in order to protect their economic and political interests in the region). With the exception of Costa Rica, there is not a single country south of the Rio Grande that endured governments not elected by the people but by the powers that be. And those who were victims of those governments and came here have been voting in every election (as I have done since 2000, have not missed one, and will not miss one). Believe me, sir, I grasp the concept of not having a democracy as a form of government, I lived it (through a right-wing dictatorship in my case, as you may have endured a left-wing dictatorship). Cubans are not “el ombligo del mundo”, and remember something even more important “Los pueblos tienen los gobiernos que se merecen.”
Be honest the vast majority of non Cuban Hispanics do NOT vote .
The apathy is engulfing . You know I am correct .
Yes you vote , sure your family does but most other then Cubans do not and I see it here in Doral .
Max and Alex are part of the same swamp
Cubans are so accustomed to dictators…
Cubans like Alex DLP and Max Alvarez love dictatorships. Just watch Alex DLP at ANY City of Miami Commission Meeting as Alex DLP takes over and pushes the other commissioners out of the way. Then watch how Alex DLP works to get his low IQ little brother elected at the County. It is no surprise that a Max Alvarez would love a would be dictator like Trump.
Juan, well said Amen! proud to be a Cuban-American.
With all due respect, I find it incomprehensible that any Cuban American that espouses a love for democracy would support Donald Trump. This is a man who rather than unite the country, sows discord and divisiveness on its citizenry, openly and brazenly disregards the rule of law, is cozy with, and admires, some of the world’s most repressive dictators (like Turkey’s Erdogan, Russia’s Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, the latter two murderous communists) and vituperates those who either question or challenge his pronouncements and policies. If our support for Trump stems from his “Hombre Fuerte” persona, his avowed love of capitalism and his obsession with strangling Cuba’s economy, I am afraid that in over 60 years of exile and life under the flawed but once thriving democracy of the United States, we have not learned what democratic principles are all about.
It is true that Donald Trump has many faults. Sadly enough, he won the Republican Party nomination In 2016 based on bigotry, lack of respect for women and much more. It would have been a blessing if another Republican would have won.
Now, that being said, you can vote for Biden and embrace the Black Lives Matter mob and the ANTIFA anarchists who are making it a point to destroy every patriotic symbol in our country and destroy the economies of beautiful cities such as Seattle, Portland, etc. By voting for Biden you are also supporting the defund the police movement in cities such as Chicago and New York and you are asking to be taxed through your teeth to pay for a segment of society that prefers to coast rather than putting in an honest day’s work.
Pick your poison, vote for the dictator or the communist. Either way we lose.
The sad thing about Cubans is that we cannot rejoice on the success of our own. We must always destroy those who are prominent in the ever chasing crusade of “quítate tu pa’ ponerme yo”. If Cuban patriot Jose Marti was to rise again and he came up with a plan to retake Cuba, there would be hundreds of critics from this exile who would confront him and try to destroy him for simply coming up with the idea.
The penalty for our moral fault is the loss of our old country. I for one I’m proud that this gentleman who came to the US penniless as a child was able to succeed in business and make a good life for himself and his family in our new country.
Republican or Democrat, the good qualities of all Americans should be praised. Jealousy leads to a downward spiral into hate.