A coalition of Florida grassroots organizations is planning an "art-based" protest Saturday outside the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts to call out Florida Grand Opera Chair Tina Vidal-Duart, accusing her of profiting from the detention of immigrants at Alligator Alcatraz.
The demonstration, the opening night of the Florida Grand Opera, aims to "reveal the truth behind the 'philanthropist' CEO’s ties to immigrant detention and years of no-bid taxpayer-funded contracts," said protest organizers in a statement.
Vidal-Duart is CEO of CDR Health Care, Inc. and Executive Vice President of CDR Companies, Inc. She's also on the Board of Trustees at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
The Miami Herald reported last July that Vidal-Duart and her husband, Carlos Duart, were among several nine state contractors who built Alligator Alcatraz to house suspected undocumented immigrants.
The Associated Press and other media outlets reported that the sprawling immigration detention center in the remote Everglades was built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans. The list included companies owned by the Vidal-Duarts.
READ MORE: Republican donors and Florida’s hurricane know-how helped build ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ so quickly
The Herald reported that CDR Maguire and its affiliated company, CDR Health, and its married chief executives, Carlos Duart and Tina Vidal-Duart, a $1.9 million to the two state political action committees supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ bids for governor and to the Republican Party of Florida.
Duart confirmed his companies’ involvement to The Associated Press but declined to specify the services they provided, citing a nondisclosure agreement. Asked if his businesses were picked because of his political support, he said, “we get chosen because we do exceptional work.”
"While families are torn apart and communities live in fear, she and her husband, Carlos Duart, continue to enrich themselves off public dollars," said organizers of Saturday's protest in a statement.
"Floridians believe in family, fairness, and integrity—values that are fundamentally at odds with profiting from detention and deportation," said the protest organizers.
"The demonstration will highlight a simple truth: our taxpayer dollars should support art and programs that uplift working people, not CEOs who get rich off our people’s pain."
The "art-based" protest will include a live street performance featuring a violinist and opera singer who "will reinterpret classical pieces to honor immigrant families and protest cruelty in the Everglades Detention Camp."
Protest organizers have created a website — our-cash.com — to urge the public to sign a letter that tells the Duarts couple "to cut ties with the Everglades Detention Camp and stop funding politicians who harm our communities."
