Joe Carollo is a former mayor of Miami, Florida. Defeated in a run-off by former mayor Xavier Suarez

Xavier Suarez

Xavier L. Suarez was the first native born Cuban mayor of Miami.Suarez attended the Colegio de Belen but graduated from St. Anselm's Abbey School in 1967, earned a degree in engineering from Villanova University in 1971, and later studied government and law at Harvard University...

, his campaign filed a successful legal change based on voter fraud, become mayor in 1998 until 2001. Born in Caibarién

Caibarién

Caibarién is a municipality city in the Villa Clara province of Cuba.Caibarien is known as "La Villa Blanca" for its sands and beaches. They are famous for their "Parrandas" along with Remedios and Camajuani.-History:The town was founded on October 26, 1832 from a map designed by Estratón Bauza...

, Cuba in 1955, Carollo moved to Miami when he was fifteen years old, having previously lived in Chicago. Carollo was mayor of Miami during the Elián González scandal. As mayor, Carollo supported the efforts of Elian's Miami family to keep the boy in the United States, and criticized the U.S. and Cuban governments for the raid to retrieve Elián. Carollo lost his bid for re-election in 2001, and former mayor Maurice Ferre

Maurice Ferre

Maurice A. Ferre is a former six-term Mayor of Miami. Ferre was the first United States mayor born in Puerto Rico and the first Hispanic Mayor of Miami. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2010 elections for the U.S...

 ran and lost against Manny Diaz, a lawyer who had represented the Miami family of Elián González

Elián González

The custody and immigration status of a young Cuban boy, Elián González , was at the center of a heated 2000 controversy involving the governments of Cuba and the United States, González's father, Juan Miguel González Quintana, González's other relatives in Miami, Florida, and in Cuba, and Miami's...

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In 1989 he ran for a position on the Miami City commission.

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