Gabela responded to a series of points made by Carollo in an interview with this newspaper, among which stands out a statement that District 1 representative would have a sealed arrest case and another that would put into context some of Gabela’s links with the owners of the Ball and Chain business.
He commissioner Gabela defines Carollo as “a violent person,” at the same time asserting that “no one controls him” and that his campaign was financed with resources that he lent himself. “It was $29,000 or $30,000 of my money,” she emphasized.
-Commissioner Joe Carollo has made some comments about you. For example, he says that Miguel Ángel Gabela has an alleged sealed case of arrest for alleged violence. What do you respond to that statement?
The only violent person is him, who was arrested for throwing a terracotta (object) and leaving a mark on his wife’s face. He is the only person who exercises violence and who is constantly offending all of his colleagues, the public and also the press in the Commission.
-Another question is that both you and Commissioner Damián Pardo would supposedly be interested in appointing a new lawyer for the City, who would then have the task of reconciling some lawsuits filed by businessmen Bill Fuller and Martín Pinilla against the Miami government..
Completely false. In 2019, I ran against Mr. (Diaz de la) Portilla, and now I came to the Commission to fix the problems of district 1. Nobody controls me. Carollo is always making allegations and is fighting with everyone, and that is what he constantly does. Those gentlemen nor anyone control my person, Miguel Ángel Gabela. I came to the Commission to work for the well-being of the district and we are spending a lot of time because Carollo uses that time on the Commission to talk about personal problems. He is the one who has the Commission destroyed because every time someone goes to speak, he starts arguing with the person, with the public and with everyone. So, everything becomes personal and you cannot promote the projects that matter to the residents of the city of Miami.
-How did Miguel Ángel Gabela finance his campaign to win a seat on the Miami Commission?
I financed my campaign like other candidates do. I lent myself, I think, $29,000 or $30,000 of my money, which I can prove where it came from. That is a myth that he is creating about money, and it is something that he always does by inventing lies about people who are enemies of him, and at this moment I am an enemy of him because he has made me his enemy, because he says many things. falsehoods, many lies, he is ‘disrespectful’ and everything he says is a lie. The money comes from what I have worked in my life, which I have in my account, just as I have the right to lend myself money, money that is already counted. If one starts answering all the lies that Carollo tells, we will spend an entire day having to publish pure lies that he is telling.
-What is your opinion of the new lawsuit filed by the owners of Ball and Chain to seek Carollo’s dismissal?
That’s something between Mr. Carollo and them. He did a lot of damage to those gentlemen and a jury determined that he had closed a business with them illegally and for that reason he has to pay more than 63 million dollars. They also accuse him of violating their rights as citizens, which the residents of this city have, and now they have filed a lawsuit against him to possibly remove him from office.
-Could we say that Mr. Gabela has no interest in this case succeeding and that Mr. Carollo be removed from the Commission?
Miguel Ángel Gabela has nothing to do with that, but if a judge determines that they are going to remove him from his position, he asked for that problem. That is something that has to do with Mr. Carollo and Messrs. Fuller and Pinilla, because he violated their rights to those gentlemen, he closed their business to them and a jury found that he was guilty.
-What do you want as commissioner of Miami?
One of the things that I would like is for us to have a normal Commission, where we can discuss and talk about the things that really affect the residents, things that really affect the quality of life of our residents, but that cannot be done. with the circus that Mr. Carollo has been running for about five years. And what happens is that Mr. Carollo simply no longer has his little friend (Alex) Díaz de la Portilla (former commissioner), who helped him maintain the circus and with whom he did whatever he wanted. They had the Commission under control, that’s why you see that he is going crazy, and if there is a meeting he begins to fight with the public, to disrespect them, as they saw in the last meeting when he was shouting the entire time. Then you have to ask yourself who is wrong, if he is not the person who is always fighting with everyone. He’s like the kid at school who’s always getting into trouble.
-In that last meeting that you mention, with what intention did Commissioner Miguel Ángel Gabela get up from his chair and go to Joe Carollo’s position? It is speculated that he wanted to hit him.
I did it to confront him, and tell him if he has any problem, that one is already tired of the verbal abuse that he is constantly doing, to the press, to the public, to colleagues. He doesn’t respect anyone. Before that, he was insulting me. He has been insulting my family and me for months, telling lies about me. I didn’t want to hit him, that wasn’t the goal. It’s simply that you reach a point where you have to face the person. A few weeks ago he said something like he was watching me. He usually chases people. Some people have entered my property, I have videos, I have a license plate number (vehicle registration number), incident number and report. Since June 14, when I started my campaign, they are not harassing me and my wife, they are watching us. A few days ago he said on América Tevé that during the days of the campaign he knew that my wife had brought me breakfast to the apartment where I was living. And it’s true, my wife brought me breakfast at the apartment. He also said that there was a truck fixing the air conditioning in the apartment, and that is also true.
