TAMPA, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday morning that will designate part of W. Columbus Drive to honor a local survivor of communism.
Beginning July 1, according to Senate Bill 160, the portion of W. Columbus Drive between N. Himes Ave & N. MacDill Ave will be designated as Maximino Capdevila Road.
During the press conference in Miami, DeSantis said Capdevila and his wife came to Florida from Cuba in 1962 and settled in Tampa, which lead to them opening an all-in-one grocery store, restaurant and banquet hall called La Teresita.
"For the past 60 years, they and their businesses have selflessly served the Cuban community in Tampa whenever possible," DeSantis said. "Maximino passed away in 2010, but La Teresita continues to operate and serve the community to this day."
DeSantis also signed House Bill 395 on Monday, which proclaims Nov. 7 of each year "Victims of Communism Day" to honor the victims of communist regimes throughout the world.
"Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, high school 60 students enrolled in the United States Government class required by s. 1003.4282(3)(d) must receive at least 45 minutes of instruction on "Victims of Communism Day" to include topics such as Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution, Joseph Stalin and the Soviet System, Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution, Vladimir Lenin and the Russian Revolution, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, and Nicolás Maduro and the Chavismo movement, and how victims suffered under these regimes through poverty, starvation, migration, systemic lethal violence, and suppression of speech." ━ HB 395
Although not mentioned during the press conference, as part of Senate Bill 160, "a portion of U.S. 27/S.R. 25 between the Polk County 33 line and the Glades County line in Highlands County is designated as 'Deputy William Gentry, Jr., Highway.'"
Deputy William Gentry, Jr. was shot in the line of duty in 2018 after he responded to a dispute between neighbors.
