Two members of the controversial Proud Boys group showed up Oct. 17, with one yelling “f-----g communist!” at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. | AP Photo Republicans' Pelosi-Shalala protest backfires amid Proud Boys appearance, mob scene

MIAMI — A Miami GOP protest at Donna Shalala’s congressional campaign office was intended to show that the Democrat and her allies were so out of touch that one of them even voiced sympathy for former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

But then the plan fell apart as the protest last week devolved into the type of “mob scene” that Republicans nationwide had been denouncing. Over the weekend, the fallout from the Oct. 17 protest escalated, leading the chairman of the Miami-Dade County Republican Party to issue an apology.


Two members of the controversial Proud Boys group showed up Oct. 17, with one yelling “f-----g communist!” at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as security escorted her into a side door amid the din of the protesters.

Protesters banged on the door. One of them was Miami-Dade County’s Republican Party chairman, Nelson Diaz, who ended up apologizing for his role in the disturbance. He said he knew nothing of the Proud Boys until the fallout ensued.

The aggressive protest — which partly contradicted President Donald Trump’s line that “Democrats produce mobs; Republicans produce jobs” — was denounced by Republican leaders from House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was shot at a congressional baseball practice last year, to Sen. Marco Rubio, an ally of Diaz’s for years.

“You are not helping the cause of anti-communism if you behave like the repudiation mobs Castro has long used in Cuba,” Rubio wrote on Twitter when video of Pelosi being hustled into the side door began seeping into conservative media at the end of the week. “Not sure who was behind this behavior but you should have protested Pelosi campaign stop without borrowing the tactics of left wing mobs.”

The confrontation became the latest sign of the heightened tensions and aggressiveness of partisans this election season. Earlier this summer, in Florida and beyond, liberal activists aggressively confronted Republican politicians from Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to state Sen. Dana Young (R-Tampa), prompting conservative complaints. The protests that erupted after the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh last month intensified Republican criticisms of Democrats.

The Miami Republican protest last week showed neither side has a lock on aggressiveness or incivility.

Originally, Republicans called for the protest at Shalala’s campaign office when she announced Pelosi would attend with fellow California Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, who had said in 2016 the nation should “mourn” the death of Castro and who has opposed sanctions on the dictatorial regime in Venezuela.

About 57 percent of Florida’s 27th Congressional District is Hispanic, the bulk of them Cuban-American. In addition to Cuban exiles, the district also has Venezuelans who despise dictator Nicolás Maduro’s regime there. So when Republicans learned Lee was coming for Shalala, it essentially guaranteed a protest — even after Lee decided not to show.

The Miami GOP wasn’t the only group to call for a protest. A group known as Miami Trump Volunteers and the Brigade 2506 Bay of Pigs veterans also called for a demonstration. In all, about 60 people showed. Only two of them were Proud Boys, who commanded a disproportionate number of headlines in liberal publications and press releases despite their small numbers.

The chairman of the local Republican Party, Diaz, said he neither knew nor invited the Proud Boys, which has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and whose members have been involved in violent confrontations from Oregon to New York with leftists associated with the antifa movement. Its founder has glorified violence.

Diaz, explaining he’s the son of Cuban exiles who fled Castro, denounced the group and apologized for his decision to pound on the Shalala office door after Pelosi went inside.

“During this protest, I let my emotions get the best of me and for that, I sincerely apologize. However, there were individuals in attendance who came with a different agenda and I unequivocally denounce their actions. I denounce all hate,” Diaz said in an interview. “I and the Miami-Dade GOP share no affiliation whatsoever with those individuals and believe there is no place in our society for hateful language, or violence against any person or group regardless of their views.”

The head of the Proud Boys in South Florida, Enrique Tarrio, denies it’s a hate group. As someone of Afro-Cuban descent, Tarrio said, he’s not in a group that supports the race-obsessed alt-right, either.

“We’re basically a drinking club with a political problem. We’re a men’s organization,” Tarrio said in an interview. “You have to believe the West is the best. And you have to be born a man.”

Tarrio confirmed he had no relationship with Diaz, only that he knew him by name, and that Diaz didn’t invite the Proud Boys. Tarrio also denounced Diaz for taking a shot at the Proud Boys, which he said has about 100 members across the three major South Florida counties.

“I wasn’t too happy with Nelson Diaz’s statement,” Tarrio said. Tarrio said he’s a Republican like Diaz and that they “believe in the same things.”

Unlike Diaz, Tarrio said he refused to apologize for his part in the protest. He said Democrats need to apologize for whipping up aggressive anti-Republican protests.

When Pelosi was being escorted through a side door at the event, Tarrio shot video and told her “you don’t belong here, you f------g communist! Get the f--- outta here!” After she slipped in the building, Diaz and a few others pounded on the door as Tarrio narrated, “open up, it’s the Proud Boys in here!”

Diaz said he didn’t hear Tarrio amid the din of protesters shouting in the alley on the side of the building. He also pointed out that Tarrio has been photographed with independent candidate Mayra Joli, who’s running against Shalala and the Republican nominee, Maria Elvira Salazar. Joli attended the protest as did another Proud Boy, who waved one of the group’s flags on the sidewalk.

Tarrio said he probably won’t vote for any of the candidates in the 27th Congressional District after Salazar turned him off by endorsing gun control.

Despite the Republican groups’ differences of opinion and apparent lack of coordination, Democrats sought to lump Salazar’s campaign, the GOP and the Proud Boys together, and they relished Rubio’s decision to denounce the protest.

“You know @MaElviraSalazar, the @MiamiGOP & @MiamiProudboys have made a self-inflicted, fatal, candidacy killing mistake in #FL27 when even @marcorubio must condemn them for their thuggish Castro-style 'acto de repudio' intimidation tactics against @DonnaShalala & @NancyPelosi,” Shalala’s campaign pollster, Fernand Amandi tweeted.