By Ivan Pereira
Kristin Urquiza may not have been one of the big names to speak at the Democrats’ virtual convention Monday night — but she had a big message for voters.
Urquiza made headlines in June with an obituary The Arizona Republic that blamed politicians for the COVID-19 death of her father, Mark Anthony Urquiza. During a pre-taped speech on Monday night, she laid the blame on the president for the death of her father, who she said was a Trump supporter.
“His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that, he paid with his life,” she said.
The video included a slideshow with old images of Urquiza with her father.
Urquiza talked about her father’s trust in Trump, and how he went out to a karaoke bar in May after the state reopened businesses.
“He had faith in Donald Trump,” she said. “[He] listened to him, believed him and his mouthpieces when they said that coronavirus was under control and going to disappear; that it was OK to end social distancing rules before it was safe and that if you had no underlying health conditions.”
A few weeks after the karaoke outing, Urquiza said her father was hospitalized and put on a ventilator.
“After five agonizing days, he died alone in the ICU with a nurse holding his hand,” she said as the slideshow displayed an image of her father in the hospital.
Urquiza said that Trump didn’t cause the virus, “but his dishonesty and his irresponsible actions made it so much worse.”
The U.S. leads the world in coronavirus cases, with over 5.4 million, and in deaths, with over 170,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
“One of the last things that my father said to me was that he felt betrayed by the likes of Donald Trump,” Urquiza said. “And so, when I cast my vote for Joe Biden, I will do it for my dad.”
