Goya Foods Pledges More Than Million Pounds of Food, Faces Boycott

Bb Mark Bennett, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Goya Foods is a minority-owned company that sells various food products in the US and many Latin countries. In fact, it is the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the USA, and the CEO pledged to donate a million cans of chickpeas and a million pounds of food during these troubled times. Yet, Goya Foods is facing a boycott.

On July 9th, Robert Unanue, the CEO of Goya Foods, attended an event at the White House rose garden where President Trump signed the Hispanic Prosperity Initiative, which was described as an effort to improve access to educational and economic opportunities. In response to President Trump’s announcement, Bob Unanue, the president of Goya Foods, announced that Goya would donate one million cans of chickpeas and another one million pounds of food to food banks in the United States. Mr Unanue praised the president at the event, saying, “We’re all truly blessed at the same time to have a leader like President Trump, who is a builder. And we pray. We pray for our leadership, our president, and we pray for our country, that we will continue to prosper and to grow.”

But many were quick to criticize and condemn Mr. Unanue’s comments – even among prominent Hispanics. Marion Nestle, Emeritus Professor at NYU, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, actor and activist, spoke out encouraging others not to buy from Goya Foods. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, democratic socialist, and Julian Castro, the former housing secretary, and former Democratic presidential candidate, lashed out against Robert Unanue for supporting a president who has “villainized and maliciously attacked Latinos for political gain.”

Goya Foods, however, on Friday issued a news release about the company’s donation, but did not address the controversy around Mr. Unanue’s comments. In an appearance on Fox News on Friday, Mr. Unanue defended his comments. “It’s suppression of speech,” he said, noting that in 2012 he was called to work with the first lady, Michelle Obama, on a different initiative that focused on helping families to make healthy and nutritious meals. “So you’re allowed to talk good or to praise one president, but you’re not allowed, when I was called to be part of this commission to aid in economic and education prosperity and you make positive comments, all of the sudden that’s not acceptable,” Mr. Unanue said.

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