Can conservative Latin American populists motivate Latino vote? Republicans are counting on it

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 22. He was joined at the Conservative Political Action Conference by El Salvador’s millennial president, Nayib Bukele, who delighted the crowd with a speech in fluent English deriding philanthropist George Soros and “globalism.” The Republican Party is aligning with some Latin American populists as a way of injecting star power and the political landscape of immigrants’ home countries into this year’s U.S. election. Mercedes Schlapp, a former Trump White House aide, told Spanish-language newscasters that Democrats have been nurturing the Latino vote for a long time, but when Trump was seeking reelection in 2020, he told his strategists to “do whatever you can to get the Latino vote.” Schlapp said that pursuing the popular elected leaders to join the recent conservative gathering is part of that effort. A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires said, “We make no comments on private meetings.” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Cuban American who has endorsed Trump, traveled to Argentina’s Casa Rosada last week to meet Milei and asked him to autograph a mug with the slogan “No hay plata,” for “There is no money,” which Milei used in campaign to say the country will no longer subsidize public programs. “Our community knows the truth: The party of Trump doesn’t give a damn about Latinos.” Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center, warned that these leaders are “either intentionally antagonizing the White House or making an easily avoidable diplomatic misstep.” Bukele was perhaps even more popular at CPAC, followed by dozens of supporters after his speech Thursday who were blowing horns and shouting his name.