FIU Student in Racist College Republicans Chat Has Coral Gables Ties

Dariel Gonzalez, one of the participants in a young Republican group chat that repeatedly used the N-word and antisemitic slurs, appears to be heavily involved in the Coral Gables community.

On Wednesday evening, New Times reported on a Florida International University (FIU) student group chat involving Gonzalez; Ian Valdes, president of the school’s Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter; and other conservatives, including Miami-Dade County GOP secretary Abel Alexander Carvajal, who allegedly created and named the chat (the Republican Party of Miami-Dade County is now seeking to remove him from his role). In the WhatsApp chat, the students exchanged racist slurs, promoted Nazism, complained about “colored professors,” and used the N-word over 400 times, according to reporting from the Miami Herald.

Gonzalez, a FIU student and then-recruitment chair of FIU’s College Republicans, allegedly wrote in one message, “Total Negro Death!” In another message about a Black student who reportedly left FIU’s College Republicans after being subjected to racial slurs, Gonzalez, according to the chat logs, said another group member “called her a n*gger so she left.”

At other points, Gonzalez allegedly referred to the Black community as the “coloreds,” and used the antisemitic slurs kike, (which he spelled kyke). He also allegedly called Agartha, a mythical lost Aryan civilization imagined by Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler’s SS chief and key architect of the “Final Solution plan” regarding the Jewish people, a “Nazi heaven sort of,” the Herald reported, and a “Heaven inside the earth,” according to the Floridian, which first reported on the racist and antisemitic group chat.

“You can fuck all the [kike] you want, just,” Gonzalez wrote, according to the Herald. “Just don’t marry them and procreate.”

Coral Gables Core

Routinely dressed in 1920s attire as if he were a The Great Gatsby extra, Gonzalez, the self-proclaimed Coral Gables historian, appears in campaign photos in support of Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago and Commissioner Richard Lara during the April 2025 election.

He is an active member of a Coral Gables community WhatsApp chat, regularly volunteers at historic city venues, including as a tour guide at the Coral Gables Merrick House, and led a presentation for the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables at the library last June about the city’s founder, George Merrick, who held racist ideas himself. Gonzalez, in a podcast interview, also claimed he helped organize a concert for the city’s centennial in December 2025, where he was photographed with Miami-Dade County Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez.

“Early Voting day, and there’s still two hours to go!” Lara wrote on his post, which features Gonzalez in a bowtie and flat straw hat. “I’m so grateful for this incredible group of supporters.”

Last November, Lago spoke to FIU’s College Republicans chapter. Gonzalez, wearing a black suit with a white shirt and red tie, stands next to Lago in the group photo.

“What an amazing night hearing from Vince Lago, Mayor of Coral Gables,” a @gopfiu Instagram post reads. “Thank you to everyone who came to show support not just for us but for him. Watch out for our future events!”

In Coral Gables WhatsApp message logs from July 2024 obtained by New Times, Gonzalez complains about the city raising an LGBTQ+ Pride flag and the police department hosting a Pride parade.

“Police should focus on policing,” he wrote. “They’re not advertisements or fundraisers.”

After one participant discussed how his parents “celebrated just the regular holidays,” not “Hispanic week,” “Pride Week,” or Black History Month and how employers need to provide “entertainment and social support” in addition to employment, Gonzalez replied, “You’re totally right Frank.”

He added, “In your lifetime society has changed and I would argue not for the better.”

According to his now-deleted bio on R.J. Heisenbottle Architects’ website, Gonzalez was a research assistant under the firm’s director of historic preservation services. His biography also previously stated that he is a trained historian specializing in the history of Coral Gables who volunteers at the George Merrick House and the Coral Gables Museum. The firm’s controller confirmed to New Times that Gonzalez was an intern who is no longer affiliated with the firm.

“We unequivocally condemn antisemitism, racism, and any language or conduct that promotes hate, violence, or discrimination,” the firm’s statement reads. “Such views are reprehensible and are fundamentally incompatible with the values our firm upholds.”

Following the release of the racist and antisemitic FIU messages, New Times obtained an email Commissioner Ariel Fernandez sent to the city manager, attorney, and clerk to ensure that Gonzalez would be “immediately suspended” from serving on any city board, acting as a Merrick House docent affiliated with the Coral Gables Museum, working with city vendors, or participating in city programs. He also asked that the city and the Coral Gables Police Department fully cooperate with FIU’s investigation into the group chat.

“As I know you are all aware, this individual has participated in a WhatsApp chat about the City of Coral Gables that contained unacceptable language as well as threats against members of the Commission and past members of the administration,” Fernandez wrote in his email.

In a text message, Fernandez told New Times that Gonzalez has been removed as docent at Merrick House.

“Who Celebrates Kwanzaa?”

In his January 2025 interview on the Politics in Paradise podcast, Gonzalez said he was born in Cuba, attended school in the Gables, and “pretty much grew up” in the affluent neighborhood. Host Nicolas Cabrera added that “there are very few people our age that love Coral Gables as much as we do.”

“I work here now. I volunteer here every weekend, so I may not be directly involved in what’s going on, but I kinda care deeply,” Gonzalez, who noted that he lives north of the city and is not actually a Coral Gables resident, said.

Gonzalez also said that he was working with the Miami Symphony Orchestra to host a centennial concert for the city. “We were approved to do it in December of the centennial year,” he added. “We will be closing out the year with authentic 1920s music.”

Sure enough, the concert came to fruition at the Venetian Pool. Miami-Dade County Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez posted a photo from the event with Gonzalez, who smiles while donning his usual garb.

At the end of the podcast episode, he laughed when Cabrera wished his audience a happy Hanukkah and a happy Kwanzaa.

“Who celebrates Kwanzaa?” he asked. “No, it’s literally a made-up holiday. You know this, right? Look up the history of Kwanzaa.”

In an emailed statement to New Times, Lago denounced the messages in the FIU WhatsApp.

“I was deeply disappointed, offended, and disturbed by the reports regarding these messages. The language described is offensive and completely contrary to the values of respect and inclusion that I stand for,” the statement reads. “Like many people in public life, I have taken photographs with thousands of residents and visitors over the years at community events. A photograph does not represent an endorsement of a person’s views or actions.

What matters is that we are clear about where we stand. Racism, antisemitism, homophobia, and discrimination against women have no place in Coral Gables, and we will always speak out when those values are violated.”

Commissioner Lara told New Times in an emailed statement that Gonzalez was not part of his campaign in any official capacity, nor was he ever employed or paid by the campaign. He also pointed out that Gonzalez is not a resident of Coral Gables.

“During the course of running for office, I met many individuals at community events and through everyday interactions in public life, and he was one of those people,” his statement continues. “The reported postings attributed to him are abhorrent and completely contrary to the principles of respect, inclusion, and dignity that I stand for and that should define our community.”

Fernandez called the messages “disgusting, unacceptable, and completely inconsistent with the values that define our community here in Miami-Dade County,” in a statement he posted to X (the platform formerly known as Twitter), and subsequently sent to New Times.

Gonzalez did not respond to New Times‘ requests for comment via phone or Instagram.