MIAMI.- Former Hialeah councilwoman, Angélica Pacheco, said she was disappointed with Governor Ron DeSantis, who hours before suspended her from office due to accusations against her of fraud to the Health System, and accused Mayor Esteban Bovo of being behind everything Their case.
“The governor is in Tallahassee and is very unaware of the problems that are happening in our city,” said Pacheco at the press conference that took place at the entrance to the city’s City Hall this Tuesday, June 25.
She hinted that the origin of her problems with the law was due to the fact that during her time as a councilor she tried to inform the community of the current events in Hialeah. “However, Mayor Bovo does not want the community to be informed because it is not in his interest.”
I defeated one of theirs
“Let me begin by highlighting our historic election victory against the powers and agendas that currently dominate our city. “Together with the residents of Hialeah we overthrew an old friend and political ally of Mayor Bovo (Vivian Casals Muñoz), someone who is related to a former mayor and very deeply involved in the internal dealings with developers here in the city of Hialeah,” he said. , looking for arguments that justify his termination.
Threats
Later, she claimed to have faced numerous threats from the mayor: “Several months ago, in a fit of anger, he told me that the time to honor myself would soon be coming to an end. That is posted on the Hialeah meeting page. “I have also received threats of legal action for simply helping our constituents.”
“I have been threatened and disrespected for raising concerns about a person who was placed on an affordable housing committee by Mayor Bovo and Council President Jesús Tundidor. Ironically, that person has been involved in a four million dollar fraud. A theft of government funds from an affordable housing project. An admitted fraud in which this individual had to accept a deferred action agreement to avoid facing justice and return the four million, plus a fine of one million dollars. This person betrayed the public trust of a program for vulnerable people and there he is placed by the mayor and the president of the council. Because, despite having betrayed the public trust, this person is a great donor and friend of the mayor, the president of the Council and all his cronies.”
Pacheco said she was referring to developer Michael Wohl, whom she opposed when he was appointed to the affordable housing committee. She even created a petition on the change.org platform to request that he be removed from that task force.
Without notice
The former councilor complained that no one notified her of her suspension, “neither the governor nor the City of Hialeah. “I haven’t received a call, an email, or a text message.”
“It is inappropriate and disrespectful for an elected official to learn of his suspension through social media.”
They are not going to silence me
She later added that Mayor Bovo had already judged her in his press release, saying he “felt disappointed in my actions and hoped to put this dark chapter for the city behind us. However, the only darkness in our city is the corruption and misconduct that I have been exposing and will continue to expose because they will not silence me.”
He said “zoning changes are being made to enrich their political donors, without properly notifying residents as required by law, and our city is being sold off to developers piece by piece to very powerful people.”
He maintained that Mayor Bovo has a habit of accusing people of criminality. “That he does it to me doesn’t surprise me. This is how he has treated residents who come to the City of Hialeah both to express a concern and those who attend code compliance or planning and zoning hearings. Also, those who do not express views that coincide with those of the mayor are forcibly removed from this city council that is run as if it were located in Havana, communist Cuba, and the dictator Bovo Castro at the helm.”
Insto to the FBI
“I know you must be very nervous about what I am stirring and what I am going to continue stirring,” he warned.
“I call on the FBI and all authorities: they must enter this City of Hialeah, this City Hall, and thoroughly investigate all the activities of all officials, their transactions and their communications because there is endless illegal activity.”
I’m innocent
The only time she referred to her legal case she said that “the actions that have been brought against me are politically motivated. The mayor says that this started before he was mayor and before I was a council member. I can’t go into details, but I know of many things that I have confirmed that say that I had no reason to be involved in that case. Because that has nothing to do with me and I am innocent of everything.”
She stated that her lawyers advised her not to talk about the case, but she said she was innocent, calm and slept well at night.
Reactions
When asking the president of the Council for a reaction, he regretted what is happening to a member of the legislative body that he directs, but “the charges are very worrying. “We are talking about more than 19 million dollars in Medicare fraud.”
“The charges are not linked to the city of Hialeah. “We are going to keep an eye to see what happens with the investigations.”
Mayor Bovo called all these accusations a maneuver and said he was achieving “getting people to talk more about her accusations instead of talking about what she is being accused of, which is serious.”
“If the defense for his problems is going to be to blame me, I think he is going to have serious problems in his defense. Because these are things that happened from 2017 to 2020 and she was not a councilor and I was not mayor of the city of Hialeah. Therefore, saying that this was a conspiracy against her to silence her seems to me to be trying to deflect something serious that stains the name of the city of Hialeah,” the mayor said in a radio program. He regretted what is happening and said that Pacheco is innocent until proven otherwise.
“But the charges are serious, they talk about narcotics, they talk about abuse of money. It seems to me that he should focus on what is ahead of him and stop blaming me or the City,” Bovo concluded in a radio interview.
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