This archive report was first published on 19 July 2020.
Published on July 19, 2020, a YouTube video featuring Robert Unanue, the CEO of Goya Foods, sparked a heated debate in the Latino community.
Unanue's comments praising President Trump, who has been accused of devaluing Latinos, led to a call for a boycott of Goya products. However, the impact of the boycott remains unclear, as Goya is a privately held company and its records are not public.
Despite the boycott, Goya products were still widely available in stores across the country. In Dallas, Texas, Jerry's Supermarket in the predominantly Latino Oak Cliff community continued to stock Goya products, and customers were buying them as usual.
However, not everyone was supportive of Goya. In Tucson, Arizona, a 19-year-old student, Patrick Robles, said his family was boycotting Goya products, citing Unanue's comments as a 'punch in the stomach' for the Latino community.
Others, like Pamela Ramirez, a 48-year-old Mexican-American small-business consultant in East Los Angeles, opposed the boycott, arguing that it could harm the Latino community by affecting the livelihoods of those employed by Goya.
“You've got to put your money where your mouth is,” Ramirez said. “If you don't, then you're just part of the problem.”
