Mexican Cafe Receives Threats After Refusing Romney Visit

A Mexican cafe in Denver has been receiving threats since turning down a request to host a campaign stop for the candidate there while he was in town for last week’s debate.

Oscar Aguirre, the owner of Rosa Linda’s Mexican Cafe, said the Romney campaign reached out to him in August telling Denver based 7News that a couple of former missionaries stopped by the restaurant at that time asking if they would be willing to host a campaign event there for Romney at least partly due to the fact that his parents were Mormon.

The Aguirres said Romney could eat there, but they didn’t want the restaurant used for a campaigning.

Romney ended up eating at a Chipotle while in Denver and it was the next day that problems for the Aguirres began after a local blog ran a piece on their refusal to host a campaign stop which quoted Oscar Aguirre as saying:

“Both my mom and dad said no. My parents are Mormons, which they share with him, but number one, they’re not Republican, and number two, it’s not the type of publicity or image that they want to portray. They joked to me, ‘One [candidate] wants to give money away, and the other wants to take my money, so either way, we’re screwed.'”

The piece went on to note that:

“This is not the first time Rosa Linda’s owners have taken a political stance: In 2000, they also declined an offer from Bush supporters who wanted the then-president to visit. This time around, as Aguirre recounts on the restaurant’s Facebook page, the man who reached out told them that “since Mr. Romney is LDS as well as our parents, it would make a great platform for his election. Mom again said NO. Religion and politics don’t mix…. We were better off when Clinton was in office….”

Since that time, the Aguirres have bee subjected to all sorts of threats and calls including one you can see in the piece above by 7News with an angry caller who said “Take you and all your B******s back to Mexico you (expletive) piece of crapola.”

Fortunately, there has been an outpouring of local sympathy with the restaurant enjoying standing room only capacity once the word of their trouble went public.

Initially there was a lot of concern as to what effect all this might have on their ability to feed people this Thanksgiving. According to Aguirre:

“Last year, we fed 5,500 free meals (video below). This year, we may serve above 6,000 free meals. Please let the American public know that we are not racist or bigots. We are just a working family wanting to help our community and our country by serving those in need. Please stop the hate.”

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