Construction worker Diego Reyna had had enough of Donald Trump's comments about his Mexican compatriots when he sneaked up the Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver and hung a Mexican flag.
To make sure it was seen beyond Vancouver, Canada, Reyna, 30, posted a photo on Facebook, saying the deed he carried out this past Saturday was intended to draw attention to the Mexican workers who made the tower possible. The post went viral.
Reyna was born in Mexico and lived in Cancun until he moved to Vancouver in 2011. He doesn’t work at the site, but has several Mexican friends who do. He said he has been most upset over Donald Trump’s comments calling Mexicans criminals, rapists and people who carry drugs.
“He said he assumed that ‘some’ of them are good people, but that is generalizing negatively against millions of people. If he wants to address illegal immigration, I respect that. But when he is telling the entire world that we are all criminals, it’s a negative statement,” Reyna said.
Reyna said he felt that putting the flag on the project bearing Trump’s name was the only way he could attract the Republican frontrunner’s attention. He and a friend dressed in their construction gear and talked their way past security. They then took the elevator up 20 stories, and walked up the stairs to the top of the building.
“I’m a humble, middle-class construction worker. He’s a huge guy, a billionaire, and a candidate to run one of the most powerful countries in the world. Putting a Mexican flag on his tower is the only possible way I can say, 'Excuse me sir,'” Reyna said.
Trump declared his presidential bid in June last year by accusing Mexico of sending people bringing criminals, drugs and rapists.
“When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best. They're not sending you, they're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems," Trump said in a speech at Trump Tower in New York last June.
According to CBC Canada, the Holborn Group, is the owner of Vancouver Trump building.
Reyna, who is a naturalized citizen in Canada, said he’s received an overwhelming response to his post – including some Trump supporters have told him to go back to Mexico. But he still hopes that his actions can unite anyone who has felt targeted by Trump’s comments.
“From the Mexican guys that worked at that building, to the Hispanics in the U.S., to the people in Mexico, it has been a Band-Aid on the huge wound that Mr. Trump has made. They felt vindicated, redeemed and uplifted,” Reyna said. “They feel like someone is standing up for them. It was the flag that made that statement.”
