5 April 9-15, 2026 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | MAYOR HATER Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago likes comments attacking his commission nemeses. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN A t the end of a commission meeting last month, Mayor Vince Lago called out Commissioner MelissaCastro for reposting a video of Republican Florida House candidate Tony Diaz calling all Lagos “pieces of shit.” “Is this the new normal? Is this the way it is? A commissioner insulting another com- missioner using foul language on their social media,” he said. “Attacking me. Attacking my family. Smearing and lying.” He went on to read the city’s civility code and said he welcomes all disagreement but al- ways keeps it professional, not calling anyone a name or continuing disagreements away from the dais. “I would never do that,” he added. Yet, a review of Lago’s official mayoral Ins- tagram, personal Instagram, and Substack ac- counts reveals that he has apparently routinely liked inflammatory comments from others attacking fellow commissioners Cas- tro and Ariel Fernandez, his two nemeses on the commission. Since last year, Lago’s Substack profile, of- ficial mayoral Instagram, and personal Insta- gram accounts seem to have liked comments that are sexist, use expletives, make fun of the commissioners’ physical appearance, or ac- cuse them of drug use. The Substack profile is the same account where Lago is listed as the author of the March 25th editorial titled “The Case for No- vember” for Aesop’s Gables Substack, which he promoted on his mayoral Instagram ac- count. He also liked comments thanking him for the opinion piece. The Instagram account @vlago4 has a profile photo of the mayor and has been tagged in posts alongside Lago’s mayoral account. Lago’s office did not answer New Times’ questions on Thursday. “Nah. That’s the sound Melissa makes af- ter snorting a rail off the trunk of her Maser- ati before cockhopping a stranger at the biltmore parking lot” reads one of the liked Substack comments from February. He liked another comment from Decem- ber that refers to Castro as a “bitch” with a below-average IQ in response to a Substack article critical of her. Another post he liked was a slideshow of Castro that makes fun of her weight loss and alludes to the same sexist Biltmore parking lot joke. “Why is this bitch always out of breath? one of the Substack comments reads. “Hey, maybe that’s it. The lack of oxigen [sic] is the cause of her stupidity. I swear there is nothing more cringy than listen- ing to someone with a below aver- age IQ who truly believes they are smart.” Additionally, the private Instagram ac- count @vlago4 liked a comment that mocked Castro’s physical appearance and joked that death wasn’t far away for Maria Cruz, an 80-year-old resident and fierce Lago critic. The anonymous user had commented on Castro’s post celebrating Cruz’s birthday in January, calling them both “gargoyles” and saying, “how <0x1F4A9> sticks together.” “...One a gargoyle too late to fix,” part of the comment reads. “The other a gargoyle who’s had so much plastic surgery, she can’t go 13 feet from a campfire. One has her hairy lump attached to her arm. The other has her hairy lump attached to her hip, yelling thix theven[sic] like she’s cute or something. No wonder they constantly conspire to milk the good residents of CG. Anyway, happy Bday tapóncito. Luckily for Coral gables it’s your 80th so not many left.” He has liked comments targeting Fernan- dez, including one that calls him a “worthless POS,” and another that spells a homophobic slur backward. “The clown show led by the toggaF @com- mishariel continues,” the first comment reads. “The guy has never accomplished anything in his life, so this is his way of feeling like a man.” In a statement to New Times, Castro says she has endured personal attacks, public dis- respect, and degrading, sexualized content targeting her as a commissioner and a woman for the past three years. “It is a deliberate pattern,” she adds. “The willingness to engage with and endorse this kind of behavior is not just inappropriate, it is a serious failure of leadership. It reflects a level of conduct that should concern anyone who expects dignity from the office of mayor. As a father of daughters, the example being set should give anyone pause. Leadership is defined by how you treat others, especially women in public service, and this falls far be- low that standard.” Fernandez says in a separate statement that the defamatory and harassing comments, particularly those aimed at women, are not acceptable. “Our residents expect leadership that ele- vates the conversation, shows respect, and brings people together. Since I decided to run for office, Vince has continually failed to meet that standard,” he continues. “Political dis- agreements must end when the meeting ad- journs. Over time, Vince has taken his political disagreements and turned them personal. He has targeted me, my wife, and members of our family. That’s not leadership. They are the tac- tics of a schoolyard bully and are a distraction from the work we were elected to do.” [email protected] Mayor Vince Lago has liked explicit comments about his fellow commissioners on Instagram and Substack. New Times illustration. Photo via YouTube/Community Newspapers and the Making Miami Podcast (Lago), Substack and Instagram screenshots | METRO | “THEY ARE THE TACTICS OF A SCHOOLYARD BULLY AND ARE A DISTRACTION FROM THE WORK WE WERE ELECTED TO DO.” “Anyone with eyes can see that this is not a li- brary, it’s a Trump hotel,” Dunn says. “If not hotel and condo.” Neither the White House nor The Trump Or- ganization responded to New Times’ request for comment. The video released by the president’s founda- tion shows the proposed building dwarfing the nearby Freedom Tower, a historic downtown Mi- ami landmark where Cuban refugees arriving in South Florida decades ago received assistance. The renderings are credited to Bermello Ajamil, a global architecture and engineering firm head- quartered in Miami that did not respond to a re- quest for comment. By the next evening, Trump suggested the structure may not be a library at all. “This concept could be office, but it’s most likely gonna be a hotel with a beautiful building underneath and a 747 Air Force One in the lobby,” the president told reporters at the Oval Office. (He also noted that he doesn’t “believe in building libraries or museums.”). Dunn argues that the land belongs to the stu- dents of Miami Dade College — not Trump. “It’s their land,” Dunn says. “The Board of Trustees is supposed to protect that land for the benefit of the students, and they didn’t, and that’s the violation of the law.” Andres Rivero, an attorney who represented Dunn in his previous lawsuit against Miami Dade College, tells New Times that he plans to repre- sent Dunn again. Rivero said they’re currently “analyzing their options” for the case and declined to comment further. Last year, Dunn sued Miami Dade College, the public institution that owned the swath of prime real estate, and accused it of failing to give the public sufficient notice before a meeting in which trustees conveyed the land to the state to then be deeded to Trump’s library foundation. He questioned who the public land ultimately belongs to, and who gets to decide its future. According to a 2025 assessment by the Miami- Dade County property appraiser, the land was val- ued at more than $67 million. One real estate expert reportedly said the parcel, which some have described as a “developer’s dream,” could sell for hundreds of millions of dollars or more. But while a judge initially ruled in Dunn’s fa- vor, the board eventually held another vote in a public meeting and approved the land transfer to the nonprofit foundation. In the December hearing, in which the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees voted unani- mously to approve the land transfer, Dunn’s law- yers said they would continue pursuing the case at his expense. The court required Dunn to post a $150,000 bond for the case to move forward. In a Go- FundMe page, he said he had raised $26,000 but borrowed the rest of the money. While Circuit Judge Mavel Ruiz ultimately dis- missed the case without prejudice, she acknowl- edged Dunn’s decision to leverage his home to pay the bond as part of the terms of her order. She described him as someone “willing to put themselves, their money and their home on the line for the better good.” “I thank you,” Ruiz told Dunn. Dunn contends Miami (which “deserves this building,” Eric Trump told the Miami Herald) was chosen for one reason: the Trump family stands to profit. “Mar-a-Lago deserves this building, not Mi- ami,” Dunn says. “He doesn’t live here.” [email protected] Promised Land from p4
