After a lawsuit was filed against her hometown, Doral City Council candidate Irina Vilarino got some good news earlier this month. A judge dismissed the lawsuit and ruled she was qualified to run in the November election.
Vilarino said during a press conference on Wednesday that she has a theory about why people like her don’t get involved in politics more often.
“Because if you do, they will make your life hell,” said Vilarino, a candidate for Doral’s third city council seat.
Vilarino, a longtime co-owner of her family’s restaurant, Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine, first ran for Florida’s 26th District in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2019. She withdrew in 2020, however, when then-Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez was endorsed for the seat by then-President Donald Trump.
After running for the Doral seat earlier this year, she faced another public challenge when Doral Chamber of Commerce CEO Emmanuel “Manny” Sarmiento filed a complaint challenging her candidacy on the grounds that she had not lived in Doral for the past two years, a requirement for city office. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Peter Lopez ruled Aug. 15 that she had provided sufficient proof of her Doral residency to be considered a valid candidate.
READ MORE: Doral candidate embroiled in residency dispute can run, judge rules
Vilarino said that when Vice Mayor Oscar Puig-Corve decided not to run for re-election in Seat 3, she thought campaigning would be a “fairly harmless process” and a good opportunity to give back to the community as a resident and business owner. Instead, she claims, she found an enemy in Mayor Christi Fraga that she didn’t know she had.
Fraga supported Vilarino’s opponent Nicole Reinoso, an executive director with Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Fraga served on the School Board between her terms as a councilwoman and mayor of Doral.
“I thought the mayor would support me, as a woman, a business owner, a single mother, an immigrant, and a staunch advocate for freedom. I checked all the boxes,” Vilarino said. “Ironically, she immediately labeled me an enemy because I wasn’t on her team.”
During her press conference, Vilarino alleged that Fraga had committed “political persecution.” She presented evidence that the Leaders of Tomorrow PAC, a fundraising committee chaired by Fraga, paid $10,000 in legal fees to Cabrera Hoopingarner, the firm that represented Sarmiento in his complaint about Vilarino’s whereabouts..
Additionally, Vilarino alleged that her business was targeted, highlighting a recent eviction notice for one of her Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine locations in Downtown Doral, a case she plans to fight in court.
During an impromptu press conference after Vilarino’s event, Fraga defended her actions by saying that the PAC’s involvement was a matter of transparency and public interest. Fraga told the press that she runs Leaders of Tomorrow to advocate for various issues within the city.
“A resident came to us with evidence suggesting Irina did not meet residency requirements. We supported the investigation and legal representation to address the claim,” Fraga said.
Fraga stressed that the PAC’s mission is to advocate for issues that affect the city’s well-being and to fight corruption, and she said its actions are in line with those goals.
While the advocacy in this case was against a political opponent, Fraga said the PAC “would do any advocacy that has to do with protecting the well-being of this city and anti-corruption, and we will fund anything that will protect the integrity of the elections in our city.”
Regarding the deportation case, Fraga said: “These are private matters. I have nothing to do with it. I didn’t even know there was a lawsuit.”
Vilarino disagreed with Fraga’s overall assessment, arguing that the actions of the PAC and Fraga were not so much aimed at protecting residents, but at disrupting local politics and personally attacking them.
Sarmiento, meanwhile, denied any political motives behind his complaint, though he acknowledged that he is friends with the mayor and her husband. He criticized the judge’s decision, insisting that if he wanted to harm Vilarino politically, he would have filed more serious charges, such as voter fraud. He denied Vilarino’s claims that he is a political ally of Fraga and said he filed the complaint because he believed Vilarino had not lived in Doral for two years before she declared her candidacy in July. His complaint provided property records, voter registration papers and driver’s license records that suggested Vilarino had recently lived in Pinecrest.
“The judge made a decision that is common these days, avoiding a political decision,” Sarmiento said. “He didn’t want to be the one to deprive her of the opportunity to run and left that to the residents.”
Vilarino’s candidacy comes against a backdrop of local contention, including a dispute in which former city employees, including former Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez, filed a lawsuit after their pensions were revoked. While Bermudez supports Vilarino, she has stated that she does not support reinstating the pensions.
As the elections approach, Vilarino faces competition from Reinoso and Juan Carlos Esquivel, who is making his third attempt for a seat on the council. Sarmiento has openly supported Esquivel, further intensifying the political landscape.
