Social media influencer Alex Otaola hopes to be next Miami-Dade County mayor | Facing South Florida

CBS News Miami's Jim DeFede devotes the entire half-hour to social media influencer Alex Otaola, who wants to be the next mayor of Miami-Dade County.

The candidate, who is 45 years old and came to the United States more than 20 years ago, has built a media empire by hosting his own Spanish-language show on YouTube with nearly 700,000 subscribers. While there are a lot of people who may not know who Otaola is, politicians seeking the Cuban vote know him well and have been courting him for years.

Otaola understands English but came on the program with his translator because he prefers to speak in Spanish. The two discuss, among other things, why he is running and thinks voters should elect him. They also discuss some more controversial things surrounding the mayoral candidate.

Guest: Alex Otaola/Candidate, Miami-Dade County Mayor

Catch Facing South Florida With Jim DeFede on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET.

#miami #miamidade #florida #floridanews #politicalnews #politics #election #mayor #mayoralcandidates #mayoral #alexotaola #otaola

[feelinggarcia]

Allow me to begin by stating that as a Cuban, I could never support this individual. He is known for fostering division, and I commend CBS News for exposing him as a fraud.

Firstly, the majority of his followers are Cubans who have been in the country for less than five years. Consequently, most of them do not have citizenship; therefore, out of his 700, 000 followers, perhaps only 3% are legally eligible to vote.

Secondly, he is frequently embroiled in gossip with other artists. What kind of aspiring mayor engages in such frivolous disputes?

Thirdly, he does not speak English, which raises serious questions about his ability to connect with his constituents.

Lastly, I am deeply concerned about the fate of the donations he has received. I am confident that he will not win, and it remains to be seen what will become of the funds.

[Abraham]

Thank you so much for doing this! People like him has no business in local government or any kind of authority position. PLEASE STOP GIVING THIS KIND OF PEOPLE AIR TIME!

[BOATSNAPS]

I like Otaola but the language barrier is a problem for many that do not speak Spanish in Miami-Dade. The whole McArthy commissions 2.0 doesn't fly.... Black Face is not acceptable even with an apology. Trash talking Puerto Ricans is also appalling...

[johnlove]

EVEN THE TRANSLATOR NEEDS A TRANSLATOR...LOL

[adalbertoiglesias]

No way!!!

1- 20 years living in USA, and still needs a translator….
2- He even doesn’t know how to hire a good one. 😅😅😅

[LuckyMAGS]

A mayor who does not speak English, a mayor who accuses those who travel to Cuba of being communists and he traveled to Cuba 11 times, a mayor who calls an entire Cuban people cowards but he never said no more dictatorship when he lived in Cuba, a mayor who had family in Cuba and never told them that they had to go out to protesting in the street, a mayor who sang with a pro-dictatorship group like the Van Van.

[kneelbeforezod]

Mr. Defede, you have performed an incredibly important public service by utterly exposing this corrupt authoritarian grifter. Bravo!

[yoelvillavicencio]

He don’t have idea what he wants to do for Miami, only talk about communism.

[renielponce]

te estas llevando recio, cuantas veces te haz tenido que disculpar?

[silviab]

I think it isn kind of anti American being in this country for more than 20 years, aspire to public office and not being proficient in English.
20 years is more than enough for learning the lenguage and being able to speak it.

[hernanfont]

This dude just talk about everything that may hurt the candidate but nothing about the actual campaign.
He doesn’t just think like Sasha tirador but he also look like her, that’s amazing!!!

[SimonGomezV]

Is this an SNL skit? This is hilarious, the so called translator almost as funny as the candidate. My hat is off to DeFede for conducting this interview with a straight face.

[ivanantoniorodriguez]

Is people actually gonna vote for THIS? I can’t believe it. This must be a joke. 😂😂😂😂

[nelbys]

BS all he stating are lies. He doesn’t want the Cuban community to send their family money nor send essential needs. They should ask him if his family work for the Cuban Government. .. all he states is Cuba Cuba Cuba there’s nothing in there for Miami Dade county

[margaritaramirez]

Muy preocupados por (lo que va a costar) y por qué no se preocupan por (lo qué está costando) la alcaldía actual?

[YankoLlanes]

This person is the most dictatorial and opportunist that we Cubans can despise and he does not represent us nor will he ever do so while there are Cubans with common sense and it is painful because for characters like this you judge us in all parts of the world, how unpleasant

[MarisolValdes-jw]

Un candidato preocupado por las dictaduras y no por mejorar la vida de los ciudadanos del condado

[rogerpunk]

Imagine this guy in an important meeting with leaders of our community taking 3+ hours because he needs to go thru his translator 😂

[idaelperezbello]

Un alcalde no puede pedir tantas disculpas porque se equivoca mucho en su trabajo y puede ser perjudicial para miami

[darientrimino]

Otaola es verdadero cara de palo dice que el no esta en contra de las remesas este tipo si el verdadero doble moral no se como pueden creerle algunas personas