Who is Enrique Tarrio, the Cuban-American who led the Proud Boys?

Enrique Tarrioborn in Miami to Cuban parents, was not in Washington when a mob stormed the Capitol with the aim of interrupting the certification of the results of the 2020 electionin which the Republican donald trump lost to democrat Joe Biden.

Tarrio, who led the far-right group Proud Boys from 2018 to 2021, observed the storming the capitol on January 6, 2021 from a hotel in Baltimoreabout 70 kilometers from the scene of the worst attack on democracy in the history of USA.

LOOK HERE: Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the far-right group Proud Boys, is sentenced to 22 years in prison for assaulting the Capitol

I was not in the Capitol because two days before he had been arrested upon arriving in Washington from Miami due to another controversial episode: the burning of a flag with the motto “Black Lives Matter” (Black Lives Matter) at a historic African American community church in the capital of USA during a protest by Trump supporters in December.

At the time of his arrest, police found in his backpack two cartridges of assault rifle bullets bearing the logo of the Proud Boys.

He was released with the order to stay away from Washington, and later, the authorities admitted that his detention had taken place to avoid possible acts of violence during the march that Trump had called for January 6, 2021 with the motto “Stop the steal” (“stop the robbery”).

However, Tarrio did not immediately leave the city. One day before the storming of the Capitol, he met in an underground parking lot in Washington with the leader of another far-right organization, the founder of the Oath Keepers, stewart rhodes.

In addition, he spent the days leading up to the attack sending instructions to other members of the Proud Boys. He asked one of his lieutenants in a Telegram message: “Whatever the outcome…make it a show”.

This Tuesday, more than two and a half years after the assault on the Capitol, Tarrio was sentenced in the federal court of the District of Columbia to 22 years in prison.

MORE INFORMATION: 4 members of the far-right group Proud Boys are sentenced for sedition after the assault on the US Capitol.

This harsh sentence, the highest of all those handed down against the leaders of the Proud Boys, responds to the seriousness of the actions attributed to Tarrio and other members, who attacked the Capitol with a force “calculated” for “undo the results of a democratic election” and keep Trump in power, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

“The soldiers of the right tried to keep their leader in power. They failed. They are not heroes, they are criminals.”, wrote the attorneys for the Prosecutor’s Office in a brief filed with the court in August.

Among those soldiers, Tarrio was the highest ranking: at the time of the assault on the Capitol he was the leader of the Proud Boys, an ultra-right group that promotes violence and espouses anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and misogynist views, and that the civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center defined as a hate movement.

More than 200 of its members broke into the Capitol and did so, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, under the orders of Tarrio and his lieutenants.

At the time, Tarrio had his fair share of political credentials behind him: he had been the state director in Florida of the group “Latinos for Trump” and made an attempt to run in the primaries of the Republican Party for a congressional seat from Florida, though he eventually withdrew.

That seat ended up in the hands of Maria Elvira Salazarfrom the most conservative wing of the Republican Party and daughter of Cuban parents exiled in Miami.

Also born in Miami 39 years ago, Tarrio grew up in the little havana and during part of his life he had several small businesses in the security and surveillance sector, according to what he himself told the portal “Ballotpedia” when he showed up at 2020 election.

ALSO SEE: Proud Boys: The “Trump Army” that is seeing its leaders fall but cannot be given up

Already then, in a questionnaire, he identified Trump as one of his idols, although he also mentioned the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and the rapper Kanye Westcurrently known as Ye.

In television interviews, Tarrio often appears wearing sunglasses and a black cap. In the protests that took place in Washington before the assault on the Capitol, photographers caught him on several occasions wearing a bulletproof vest.

The assault left five people dead, including a police officer who suffered a heart attack hours after the event, and about 140 officers were attacked. In addition, four police officers subsequently committed suicide.

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.