Goya Foods President and CEO Robert Unanue said Friday that coronavirus-induced lockdowns are destroying the people and economy of the United States because “we need a reason to get up in the morning.”
“The worst thing we can do is shut down our economy,” Unanue told “Fox & Friends.” “We need a reason to get up in the morning: God, family, work. And they’re taking away our spirit.”
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“They’re taking away our ability to work,” he continued, referencing left-of-center lockdown proponents. “They essentially, you know, declared martial law, I believe, in this country, shutting everything down. It’s the worst thing we could have done just for political gain.” (RELATED: ‘I’m Not Apologizing’: Goya Foods CEO Refuses To Apologize For Pro-Trump Remarks)
“I think it’s criminal. I think it’s immoral, to shut down this economy for this basically political reason,” he added.
The businessman said America is now divided into two spheres: one with “socialist tendencies” and another with “capitalist tendencies.”
Unanue said the coronavirus destroyed “one of the greatest economies in the world” and created “the perfect storm of division” between advocates and opponents of economic lockdowns.
Unanue named Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “employee of the month” after the “squad” member urged a mass boycott of Goya Foods to protest Unanue’s support for President Donald Trump. The boycott backfired and Goya’s sales increased by 1000%.
The CEO said the lockdowns have produced a growing dependence on big government and big tech. “And, you know, we’re one nation under God. We’re not one nation under Twitter. We’re not one nation, you know, under big media or under central government.” (RELATED: Chrissy Teigen Caught Using Goya Products After Pushing Boycott On Social Media)
Groups of protesters gather in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park to denounce lockdowns of their neighborhood due to a spike in COVID-19 cases on Oct. 07, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
A study conducted in June 2020 by the national Institutes of Health found that countries that implemented lockdowns were more effective at reducing the number of new cases than countries that did not.
Many state governors have implemented lockdowns during the pandemic. Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said she is “never going to apologize” for the strict measures in her state because she says they saved people’s lives.
That trend could be changing as Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, long an advocate of lockdowns, said Monday the “cost” of keeping businesses shutdown is “too high.”
