Romney Holds Campaign Stop At Convicted Coke Smugglers Fruit Stand In Miami

Mitt Romney spoke at a campaign event at a El Palacio de los Jugos fresh fruit and vegetable stand with Sen. Marco Rubio in Miami, FL on Monday knowing that the business owned by a convicted Colombian cocaine smuggler.

In media reports in November 1997, Bermudez (the store owner) was identified as one of 12 people accused in a Colombian drug smuggling operation. The arrests followed a seven-month investigation led by the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Agents seized about 2,850 pounds of cocaine at three South Florida ports over several months. Agents first seized 430 pounds of cocaine at the Port of Palm Beach in July 1997 and then 117 pounds in late September at the Port of Miami. Those shipments were concealed in containers filled with fish imported from Trinidad, an island in the south Caribbean. The largest and final seizure came in late October at Port Everglades, where officials found 2,304 pounds of cocaine in a container of soap imported from Venezuela

Bermudez told the Miami New Times that the Secret Service vetted everything about him when the Romney campaign asked to use his fresh fruit and vegetable stand and that they knew about his criminal record.

Romney also filmed a campaign ad at the store.

Well Mittens does love companies that outsource.