Alex Otaola, a popular Trumpian, anti-communist influencer behind a recall petition against Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, allegedly orchestrated and amplified a smear campaign against a former ally who bankrolled his rise to fame.
In a December defamation lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Armando Labrador, founder of the Miami-based My Cosmetic Surgery chain and the political organization Cuba Primero Inc., says Otaola used his social media-powered megaphone to slander and harass Labrador. For the past two years, Otaola falsely painted Labrador as an unregistered foreign agent for the Cuban state government, the complaint charges.
Otaola, a Republican, ran an unsuccessful campaign for county mayor against Levine Cava, a Democrat, in 2024, coming in third with 12 percent of the vote. Levine Cava, who was first elected in 2020, won reelection in a landslide, capturing 58 percent…