At an upscale Mexico City hotel on Friday, several hundred right-wing activists and international allies gathered to carve an identity for Mexico’s fledgling conservative movement just as governments across Latin America swing left.
The US-based Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) — which has boosted far-right leaders such as former US president Donald Trump, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Hungarian President Viktor Orban — is scheduled to hold its first offshoot event in Mexico on Nov. 18 and 19.
The meeting follows a wave of leftist electoral victories in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and elsewhere that have cast doubt on the far right’s strength in Latin America, as it rallies against perceived adversaries in the media, pop culture, electoral agencies and big tech.
Photo: Reuters
“This is a global movement right now, and the reality is we are under complete assault,” former Trump advisor Steve Bannon said in a streamed address, claiming that Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stole the country’s election from Bolsonaro. Lula is to be sworn in on Jan. 1.
Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo was scheduled to speak later on Friday. Worries about the left’s return in Brazil and elsewhere in the region were front and center, followed by anger about changing gender values, including transgender issues.
American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp said in opening remarks that his “biggest worry” was the “march of godless communism” from Latin America to the US.
Trump, star of CPACs past, was not present, and none of his family members appeared on the speaker lineup. Just one attendee donned a red Trump cap.
Speakers, who included activists and media personalities from around the world, called for new leaders to fight the spread of “socialism,” “globalism” and “woke” culture in Mexico and elsewhere in the region.
“The right, the true right, has been orphaned,” said Eduardo Verastegui, a Mexican soap actor turned anti-abortion advocate who helped organize the conference.
The far right does not play an influential role in Mexico, where left-leaning President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador enjoys one of the hemisphere’s highest popularity ratings.
“A new right is needed, at least here in Mexico,” said Andres Burgueno, 28, who traveled from Mexico’s western Sinaloa state to attend the conference. “Right now what we see is really center-right, or centrist.”
On Nov. 13, opposition groups protested Lopez Obrador’s proposed reform of Mexico’s electoral institute in the largest demonstration against his policies since he took office in 2018. Several CPAC speakers signaled the reform as a key concern.
Still, “it’s difficult to see a conservative backlash against Lopez Obrador because [he] has been very conservative,” political analyst Carlos Bravo said, citing the president’s strong ties to the army, business and evangelical voters.
However, Bravo did not rule out the far right’s ability to move from the margins to the mainstream.
“They are playing a long game,” he said.
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