Doral Elects First Venezuelan Mayor, Luigi Boria

Doral has the highest population of Venezuelans in the United States at 20.6% and on November 27th, Doral elected Luigi Boria mayor, the first Venezuelan mayor of Doral. Mr. Boria took the election with just under 55% of the vote according The Miami Herald, beating Frank Bolaños. Mr. Boria succeeds former Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez who had reached his term limit, serving as the second mayor of the city.

Mayor Boria and his family have lived in Doral for over 23 years and consider it home. Although he has three companies and is also an ordained minister, he says on his website that he considers himself a professional politician working for the good of his community. He is a supporter of keeping taxes at the same level (Doral has never had a tax increase since its incorporation in 2003), keeping Doral safe, and protecting the high quality of life Doral residents enjoy. He has shown this commitment while on the city council by supporting city ordinances to improve the infrastructure and beauty of the city without going further into debt. According to Mayor Boria's website, his goal as a public official is to, “put people before politics.”

The mayor is also a former city council member and attends Sunday service at Hispanic Christian church, Alpha and Omega in Miami. His children, Alexander and Maria Lorena formed the Grand Floridian at Doral, LLC with Juan Carlos Tovar, a young Venezuelan entrepreneur. The Grand Floridian at Doral owns 12 acres in northwest Doral and a 40 unit single-family home development is planned for this space and will cost close to $6 million to complete.

Mayor Boria was born in Caracas, Venezuela on April 23, 1958. His parents immigrated to Venezuela from Italy in search of a better life for their family. Boria paid his way through college by working for the General Motors Corporation, and in 1982 graduated from Universidad Catolica Andres Bello with a degree in accounting. He then married his college sweetheart, and now wife of thirty years, Graciela. They have two children, and two grandchildren. Mayor Boria opened his first company, The Magic Computer in 1983. His company was technology supplier for companies in Venezuela. Six years later he moved to the United States in order to grow his business. He then opened his second company, The Wise Computer in Doral which aimed to be a supplier for all of Latin America. TWC now employs more than thirty people. In 2008 he opened his third company, The Magic Computer, in Colombia. The Boria family is worth nearly $24 million, according to an article in The Miami Herald. Last year, the couple’s yearly income was $1.8 million.