CPAC Mexico encourages the conservative alliance on both sides of the Atlantic
By Raul Tortolero
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), founded in 1974 in the United States, is de facto the most important event of the conservative right in that country, and in the world.
Close to the Republican Party and now to Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again), it was held on November 18 and 19 for the first time in Mexico City, in the Santa Fe neighborhood, directed by Eduardo Verástegui, in coordination with a friendly Matt Schlapp and his wife -very Guadalupana- Mercedes Schlapp.
Dozens of international conservatism figures participated in the event, such as Lech Walesa, former president of Poland; United States Republican Senator Ted Cruz; Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox; Eduardo Bolsonaro, representative of Brazil and son of President Jair Bolsonaro; Steve Bannon, former Trump strategist; José Antonio Kast, former candidate for the presidency of Chile; Javier Milei, an Argentine libertarian who is running for the presidency in his country; and of course, Donald Trump himself, who sent a message to close the activities, congratulating Verástegui and acknowledging that it is very important for conservatives throughout the West to come together and defend God, family and homeland.
Trump also points out that it is necessary to secure our borders, and “dismantle the cartels that violate our people, as well as stop the spread of socialism,” he says, adding: “We must stop the advance of socialism, and simply not allow it to continue to lay waste to the region or our land. And we must rebuild our economies, to support our workers and our families.”
And he closes: “I am confident that the people gathered at CPAC Mexico will be at the forefront of carrying out this vital mission, and it is very vital. Thank you CPAC, and thanks again to Eduardo for your outstanding leadership. It’s an honor to be with you, and we’ll see you soon.”
The iconic Santiago Abascal sent this video message:
“I want to greet all the participants of #CPACMéxico. Unfortunately, on this occasion I have not been able to accompany you, but I would like to be back as soon as possible visiting a sister country like Mexico, where you have always received us so well. It is very important that conservatives from all over the world come together, work, develop joint strategies, in the face of the offensive by socialists and communists, which is ending democracies, with people’s freedoms, on both sides of the Atlantic. It is very important to continue working together, and for this reason I want to wish you all the luck in celebrating these days of CPAC Mexico. Ahead”.
For his part, the legendary Steve Bannon warned that the international left is cooking electoral fraud through electronic voting, and Mexico would not be the exception.
“In Mexico, the more they push for electronic voting, it means that they are being organized to steal elections from Mexicans,” he warned, saying this would lead to losing sovereignty.
Verástegui has become an important benchmark of Mexican conservatism: he was responsible for the “Hispanic Prosperity” program in the White House with Donald Trump (which, in addition to proving that there is no racism against Mexicans, put the name of Mexico held high when someone born in this country reaches the highest entity of political power in the world).
He is a filmmaker who privileges the human message, of love and mercy, of solidarity, of Christian values, over money from the film industry. His films, for example, deal with the decision not to have an abortion, or the fight against trafficking in minors for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
As an actor, he represented the great Anacleto González Flores, journalist and Cristero martyr. His association “Viva México” has a humanist profile. He prays the Rosary without cowardice live on his social networks, asking for peace; and now he brought the CPAC to Mexico, where he participated as a speaker, presenting my book “The Cultural Counterrevolution against postmodern Marxism”, and coordinating a panel on the right in Mexico.
For his part, Eduardo Bolsonaro, in his presentation from the “main stage”, and many in the audience considered Verástegui as an excellent citizen option to be a candidate for the presidency in 2024, someone who could well represent the traditional values of the West, that today very little is represented by political parties, including the National Action Party (PAN).
Although the PAN has not changed its axiology, its ideology, its principles or its doctrine (which is why it continues to be Christian-inspired), in fact it has let in some progressives who speak of “inclusive language”, “masculinities deconstructed”, “feminism”, and other concepts actually taken not from the Social Doctrine of the Church, but from postmodern, pernicious and contradictory Marxism in an institute that must defend life from conception, and the natural family.
For this reason, one of the strongest conclusions of the congress was that in Mexico it is urgent that a conservative movement be formed, with clear and firm ideas. I had the opportunity to propose a unified agenda, which summarizes the 7 defenses of the cultural counterrevolution: the defense of faith, life, family, private property, homeland, liberties and universal rights.
It was debated whether it was necessary to found a new political party, a conservative one, although for now, and for at least two more years, the electoral rules do not allow it. That is, in the 2024 presidential elections, there would be no such party.
Therefore, it was concluded that it was legitimate and valid that the conservative leaders could be launched by any political party (opposition and even the pro-government ones), on the condition that they promote the conservative agenda.
In other words, in 2024 a bloc of 30 or 40 conservative leaders could be launched, who responds to their right-wing ideals, regardless of the ranks they are in. His allegiance must be with the conservative movement that promotes him. The parties could accept this, because of course they need the vote of many conservative sectors. All this is a growth strategy, given the current conditions.
For his part, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) did not miss the opportunity to criticize that the CPAC Mexico was a meeting of racist, classist, corrupt, unscrupulous and violent people.
Not a few of the exhibitors responded to this. “We are not racist, nor classist, but we are right-wing; President López Obrador is based on prejudice. We are defenders of life, family and universal rights,” Eduardo Verástegui gave his point of view on the CPAC stage: “In Mexico, the authoritarian socialism of President López Obrador is doing everything possible to undermine our democracy and our economy. And he works to impose a cultural agenda of the extreme left, which threatens the right to life, family, religious freedom and the most basic values of our people. So fierce is his attack on our culture and traditions, that his party… he even wants to cancel one of the most important cultural expressions of our people: Christmas nativity scenes. And there is no shortage of the official legislator who intends to reinterpret the Bible!”.
Perhaps inspired by AMLO’s hate speech, a group of 50 people wearing Marx t-shirts, communist and LGBT flags, and Cuban and Venezuelan flags went to protest at the CPAC headquarters hotel. They carried signs that read “Scum out, fascists”. And they chanted: “Alert, alert, alert that walks, the anti-fascist struggle for Latin America!”
The presence of US naval intelligence veteran Jack Posobiec did not go unnoticed. It was the best. He identified the fight against socialism as a “spiritual war,” one between good and evil. He said that the cartels had to be destroyed, whatever the cost… And he ended with something that the people loved and applauded him standing up: a prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel, asking for protection in the battle against evil.
The activist Abby Johnson was very tough against the crime of abortion: she said that Planned Parenthood, where she worked before, in Mexico has made great efforts to extend the number of weeks in which you can legally abort.
The United States Ambassador to Mexico, at the time of Trump, Christopher Landau, also participated. There is no shortage of businessmen and citizens in general who want him to return to this position as soon as Trump wins in 2024.
They also highlighted the Spanish María Herrera Mellado, representative of Vox in Florida and affiliated with the Republican Party; Hermann Tertsch, brave and simple MEP for VOX; Alejandro Giammattei, President of Guatemala; Shiva Ayyadurai, the inventor of email; the great María Fernanda Cabal, who is very loved in Mexico (and should have been the candidate who defeated the disastrous Petro and his ecological narco-socialism in the presidential elections); Eva Sara Landau, from Bolivia; Miklos Lukacs, from Peru; Pablo Munoz, from Argentina; Orlando Salazar, CEO of Voice Media and Juan Ángel Soto Gómez, Director of the International Area of the Disenso Foundation.
For their part, the members of Viva México, close to Verástegui, did an excellent job of coordinating. Ferdinand Recio, René Bolio, Verónica Toller, Jean Carlo Portillo.
The participation of Mexicans in the congress was essential, and Verástegui was generous and visionary, and integrated many very young leaders, as well as others with more experience, without taking into account the natural differences between one group and another.
Carlos Leal, Ángel Souberville, Juan Iván Peña Neder, Rosi Orozco, Emilio Yitzhak, Frida Espinosa, Carlos Ramírez, Francisco Páez, Rodrigo Iván Cortés, Alicia Galván, Elsa Méndez, and the one who writes this, spoke about the defense of life, democracy, the family, the dignity of the person, among other topics.
He was surprised that at least five speakers, foreigners or Mexicans, said goodbye to the stage at the end of their speeches, shouting “Viva Cristo Rey”, in the style of the Cristeros. And it is that we are in times of defending what we are, conservative people, people of struggle, Christian people.
With information from La Gaceta de la Iberosfera
More: Latin America news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Read More from The Rio Times