Rubio Canvasser Who Was Beaten Reportedly Linked to White Supremacists

A supporter of Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio who was hospitalized in an alleged politically motivated attack was reportedly a former member of a white supremacist group who has been arrested in fights at demonstrations.

Christopher Monzon was identified Monday as the victim in the attack in the South Florida city of Hialeah. Rubio, who is running for reelection in Florida, earlier said on Twitter that one of his supporters was severely injured while canvassing after being attacked for being a Republican. As information on the incident unfolds, Monzon's past is also reemerging.

Rubio said in a Twitter post that one of his canvassers wearing the candidate's campaign shirt and a hat supporting Republican Governor Ron DeSantis "was brutally attacked by 4 animals who told him Republicans weren't allowed in their neighborhood."

The post included graphic photos of the attack on the victim who was later identified as Monzon by Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo, reports Miami CBS News affiliate WFOR TV.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in 2017 identified Monzon as a member of the Florida League of the South, which the national extremist group monitor has described as a neo-Confederate organization seeking to establish a white-led Christian theocratic state that would establish dominance over Black people and other minorities.

Monzon in May 2017 was arrested during an altercation in New Orleans involving a Confederate monument, according to the Anti-Defamation League. In August of that year, the group reports, Monzon was present at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which drew far-right groups from around the country. The event was the most violent public gathering of white supremacists in decades.

According to the SPLC, Monzon has used racial slurs in social media posts and later in August 2017 became involved in a "verbal altercation" with a group of demonstrators calling for the city of Hollywood, Florida, to rename streets honoring Confederate generals.

"I was at Charlottesville," Monzon screamed at protesters, according to a police report obtained by Newsweek. "I'm not going to forget what you people did to us." Monzon was arrested during the altercation on charges of aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and inciting a riot after rushing toward a group of protesters and jabbing a wooden flagpole at them, according to the police report.

Last year, Monzon, who is Cuban-American, told the Daily Dot he resigned from the League of the South in 2018 after five years of membership, denying that it was a "white nationalist organization." At the time, Monzon was running what would be an unsuccessful campaign for a seat on Hialeah's city council. He told the news outlet that he was serving as vice president of the Miami Springs Republican Club and regretted using slurs.

"I do not condone the usage of such language," Monzon told the Daily Dot. "While I might have used the language in the past, I no longer believe that using those slurs is acceptable."

The Daily Dot reported that Monzon was still active in Telegram groups that trafficked in racist and homophobic language.

Reporters from the Miami New Times were invited by Monzon's family to visit him in the hospital, the paper reports. But New Times said when they arrived at Monzon's room, they were blocked from entering by two members of the Vice City Proud Boys, the local chapter of the far-right group that's been involved in street brawls.

Elizabeth Gregory, spokeswoman for Rubio's campaign, did not comment to Newsweek on Monzon's reported ties to a white nationalist group.

Police have arrested Javier Lopez, 22, in the attack on Monzon, reports WPLG. Sergeant Jose Torres, a Hialeah Police Department spokesperson, told the station that police were investigating the motivation behind the attack and said there was no indication that politics played a role.

Newsweek has reached out to the Hialeah Police Department for comment. Monzon could not be reached for comment.