Entrepreneur and social activist Fernando Mateo announced his candidacy for mayor of New York City for the Republican Party on Wednesday.
Mateo is a recognized community worker in the 1990s when he developed the social program “Guns for Toys” that helped disarm hundreds of people who voluntarily gave up their weapons in exchange for toys.
The program focused on young people from groups and gangs who maltreated people and trafficked drugs, as well as in prisons.
The social activist has also developed as a director and spokesperson for the New York Taxi Driver and Bodegueros Associations and has been a person with ties to defending the social causes of the Latino community.
In the business field, he has developed carpet, construction, remittance and restaurant businesses, among others.
Mateo was born in Santo Domingo in 1958 and emigrated with his parents to New York when he was three years old.