Christopher Monzon: Beaten while canvassing for votes in Hialeah speaks out about attack
MIAMI -- The man who was beaten in Hialeah while stumping for Republican candidates in the days leading up to last month's midterm election said Thursday that the attack was political.
Christopher Monzon, 27, was out canvassing for votes for Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio ended up being hospitalized after he was assaulted.
"People said it was Senator Marco Rubio himself who made it political," Monzon said. "But it was not."
It was his first public interview with the news media since Monzon was attacked during an assault that left him hospitalized for days and made national news headlines.
Jonathan Casanova, 27, and Javier Jesus Lopez, 25, who both have criminal records were arrested in connection with the incident.
Video of the incident between the two men and Monzon shows an escalating argument in which one of the individuals reiterates that Monzon was not welcomed in the area.
But at no point in the video was the word Republican heard.
"I told my father (while in the hospital) more or less what had happened (was) they did not want Republicans in the neighborhood and the beat me up," he said. "I thought it was self-evident at the time that it was political because of the gear that I was wearing and I was not in the perfect state of mind, I wasn't really conscious at the time."
Five years ago, Monzon was arrested during an altercation involving a Confederate monument in Virginia.
That same year in Hollywood he was arrested after charging demonstrators during a protest in Hollywood where most of those were urging commissioners to rename three streets bearing the names of Confederate generals.
CBS 4 News asked Monzon about his affiliation to the organization or any other far-right group.
"No, I'm not a white supremacist and do not belong to any organization similar," Monzon said. "In 2018, I was isolated, pushed aside and told I was not part of The League of the South for being a Hispanic (and) they excluded me. I was told I was a foreigner."
Monzon, who ran for office in Hialeah in 2021, said he does not see a political future for himself anytime soon.
For now, he wants to finish his degree in business administration as he awaits for the trial against the two men accused of assaulting him.
