Miami Seaside Democratic Commissioner Ricky Arriola has been convicted by his personal occasion for being on a “kick within the COVID conspiracy idea” – CBS Miami

MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) – A leader elected in South Florida is rebuked by his own party and accused of spreading conspiracy theories about COVID.

Last year, Miami Beach Democrat Ricky Arriola, a Democrat, was active on all social media and had a lot to say about the coronavirus. He has had some fiery conversations with critics online.

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“He’s whistled a lot of racist dog whistles, targeting both anti-Semitic and racist diversity against blacks,” said Steve Simeonidis, leader of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.

Simeonidis said it all started when Arriola mentioned in a meeting of the city commission that infecting first responders with COVID might be a good idea.

“If you can make it through the coronavirus, will you have immunity? Some doctors have told me that it is true. Maybe it’s dangerous, but brave, when our first responders volunteer one for the team, ”said Arriola.

And recently, William Byatt, the executive committee member, said Arriola “was very clear that he wanted to make Miami Beach less attractive to cite” certain customers. “

“Basically, he meant poor and colored people,” Byatt said.

Byatt and others have also accused Arriola of anti-Semitism after referring to Miami filmmaker Billy Corben as Billy “Cohen”.

“Well, like many Americans, I think 2020 Ricky Arriola broke. He’s not the same person we knew before. It has morphed into right-wing conspiracy theory, COVID denialism, ”Corben said.

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Back in August, Arriola tweeted “Fauci Prison,” a reference to Dr. Anthony Fauci.

And last month he compared the protests against Black Lives Matter to the uprising at the US Capitol.

“He was only on this totally toxic COVID conspiracy theory kick for a while after that,” Byatt said.

The conspiracy talk is why the Miami-Dade Democratic Party officially condemned Arriola on Tuesday and asked him to resign from the city commission.

“This is not a political disagreement. There is no place under our tent for our dangerous misinformation shared by Mr. Arriola, ”said Simeonidis.

CBS4 News reached out to Arriola.

He issued a statement that read:

“It’s like being censored by a knitting club. This organization only knows how to lose elections, as their results last November show. No elected official takes them seriously. You should focus on winning elections. If they’re trying to blame people, why didn’t they blame Gillum – who was arrested with a sex worker in a South Beach hotel for illegal drugs? Apparently, this behavior is okay for them, but exercising your first change rights is not okay if they don’t follow the official party line. This is a perfect example of what is wrong with the Democratic Party. You are great in small things. “

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Arriola went on to say that his controversial comments have nothing to do with his job as City Commissioner and will be here at City Hall for the next meeting of the City Commission.