Name Luis Reyes | Role Businessman | |
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Luis Reyes is a U.S. businessman from El Salvador. He owns Lauriol Plaza in Washington D.C. and the Cactus Cantina restaurant. He started out penniless and washed dishes. Reyes chose to remain in the U.S. instead of joining the leftist rebellion in his home country during the 1980s. Later, he helped dislodge the National Republican Alliance (ARENA) from power in El Salvador by supporting the opposition candidate.
Reyes left El Salvador in 1977 with money sewn into his pocket and a coyote smuggler who abandoned him and 54 others in the desert near Piedras Negras, Mexico. He came to Washington D.C. on New Year's Day in 1978. He backed Mauricio Funes with fundraising in the 2009 election. Today, he lives in Washington DC with his wife and 2 daughters.