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[quote=Anonymous]The more I read about CEO Robert Unanue, the more I like him.

He stands behind his Rose Garden comment, though he says it “wasn’t really an opinion.” Rather, it reflects his belief that “you always respect the president of the United States, and you always go when you’re called.” He appeals for unity in a way that sounds quaint in the polarized America of 2020: “When the president walks into a room, you stand, even though you may disagree in many ways. We’re a 50/50 country—not everybody agrees on everything. But there’s got to be respect; there’s got to be love.”

At the White House in 2011, Mr. Unanue had said he was “honored and humbled” to be alongside Mr. Obama. Yet Mr. Unanue recalls no abuse or recrimination from activists on the right, many of whom detested the 44th president as intensely as their leftist counterparts loathe the 45th. “There was no reaction,” Mr. Unanue says. “You have freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, and I think that was respected.”

Mr. Unanue has been struck by the pushback against the boycott effort. “It’s overwhelming, the amount of positive support we’ve gotten, overwhelming.” A “buycott”—an exhortation to go out and purchase Goya products—has been endorsed by such organizations as the Bodega and Small Business Association, which represents thousands of New York’s corner grocers. “You see the great majority of people gravitating to love and to positivity,” Mr. Unanue says. “It far outweighs, sometimes, the very loud voice of negativity, of a minority that can bring the sheep in to follow.”

Mr. Unanue is eager to talk about an initiative his company has undertaken that has been overshadowed by the Trump controversy. Under a program called Goya Gives, the company has donated tons of food to Venezuela, which is experiencing brutal shortages under the Bolivarian socialist regime of Nicolás Maduro.

“I’ve snuck in, if you will, as much as 180,000 pounds into Venezuela,” Mr. Unanue says. “You have to get by the 2,000 army generals there, and all the corruption. Nothing gets into the country if they don’t get a payoff.” Goya works with the Catholic Church and local organizations: “We do the donation, and then it’s in their hands.” On June 16, Goya announced it would send another 220,000 pounds of food. 
The company has also given a million cans of chickpeas and a million pounds of other goods to food banks, charities and churches across the U.S. The pandemic, Mr. Unanue says, has resulted in food shortages and hunger. When Covid-19 hit the U.S., “there was, all of a sudden, a burst of demand” for his products. “Fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk and all that dried up, so we became first responders in a way. Luckily, we had sufficient inventories.”

Then, after another two hours, the upright Mr. Unanue emails me himself. “I remain strong in my convictions that I feel blessed with the leadership of our President,” he writes. “That has been repeated over and over again and I stand by it.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/goyas-ceo-softly-stands-his-ground-11595008616[/quote]

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