Spanish-language right-wing personalities on radio and social media have spent the first half of 2024 comparing Democrats to Latin American dictators, part of a documented right-wing strategy to divert attention from the threat that former President Donald Trump poses to democracy.  Instead, right-wing media figures have claimed that in fact it’s Democrats — in particular President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — that display authoritarian tendencies. 

This is a well-established tactic in right-wing Spanish-language media. In 2022, media figures fearmongered that the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in Trump’s classified documents case was “just like” events that occur in Latin American dictatorships. In 2023, following Trump’s indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, personalities said that the case against Trump was “communist-level” political persecution.

Now, in the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, conservative personalities continue to deploy this narrative, painting different developments in the race — such as Trump’s various legal proceedings, Biden stepping down and endorsing Harris, and Biden’s announcement of proposals for Supreme Court reform — as “exactly” what authoritarian regimes in Latin America do to stay in power. However, as The Washington Post’s Lizette Alvarez noted in 2020:

Notably, when a roadside billboard appeared in South Florida in June comparing Trump to former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, some Spanish-language radio personalities decried that very rhetoric, claiming that comparing “any president of the United States” to Castro “is something almost abominable," and comparing it to “putting Hitler on a billboard in Miami Beach or Aventura, where the Jews live.”

Here are some of the claims that Spanish-language media have made comparing Democrats and the United States' justice system to Latin American dictatorships:

Claims that Trump’s legal proceedings are “equivalent” to political persecution in Latin American dictatorships

On Spanish-language radio in Florida, conservative personalities have claimed that Trump’s legal proceedings, including his criminal charges for falsifying business records in New York and his Supreme Court case regarding presidential immunity for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, are “equivalent” to the political persecution that took place in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela under dictators Daniel Ortega, Fidel Castro, and Nicolás Maduro.

• During a discussion of Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial, Dania Alexandrino claimed the Justice Department has “basically decided that the United States should become a banana republic.” Alexandrino is a former Americano Media personality who now hosts the Dania Habla de Frente show on the Salem Media-owned station La Nueva Poderosa. [La Nueva Poderosa, Dania Habla de Frente, 5/20/24; Media Matters, 2/3/23]

• In June, while discussing Trump’s criminal trial in New York, Alexandrino claimed the Biden administration “is abusing the justice system to persecute a political opponent.” She argued that this “makes them equivalent to the dictators of Latin America like Ortega, Maduro, and the Castros in Cuba.” [La Nueva Poderosa, Dania Habla de Frente, 6/3/24]

• In July, while discussing the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, Alexandrino claimed Democrats are using “the same tactics that are implemented by dictators around the world.” Alexandrino argued that “Democrats pretend and sell themselves as, look, the absolute defenders of democracy, but are in fact the biggest threat to this democracy,” adding that they are “the ones that have been jailing and prosecuting political enemies” and “colluding with social media companies to silence dissident voices.” [La Nueva Poderosa, Dania Habla de Frente, 7/1/24]

• On Hoy por Hoy, Carines Moncada agreed with guest Jaime Florez’s claims that Trump’s legal troubles are part of a Democratic plot that “is like what Maduro is doing with Maria Corina and what Daniel Ortega did with all his adversaries in Nicaragua.” Moncada is also a former Americano Media personality who now hosts the Hoy por Hoy show on the Miami-based radio station América TeVé. Florez is the Hispanic communications director for the Republican National Committee and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. [América TeVé, Hoy por Hoy, 4/15/24; NBC News, 6/6/24; Media Matters, 6/13/23] 

• Radio Mambi’s Lucy Pereda claimed Trump’s various legal troubles are “very similar to what Nicolás Maduro did in Venezuela, persecuting his opposition” and “to what Daniel Ortega is doing in Nicaragua.” She claimed that the cases are part of “an unfair war, a war of manipulation, of a lack of honesty, to impede a candidate from reaching the presidency.” She added, “We cannot allow for the legally corrupt Justice Department in this country, which is a beacon of democracy around the world, to continue being managed by bureaucrats who would rather be loyal to a party than a nation.” [Radio Mambi, Lucy Pereda Sin Censura, 7/8/24]

Comparisons between Latin American dictators and Democrats, including claims that Democrats’ proposed Supreme Court reform could “lead to another Venezuela.”

Conservative personalities spread claims that Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee was “what Chavez did with Nicolás Maduro In Venezuela,” referring to Maduro’s controversial ascension to power after being “hand-picked” by Hugo Chavez to succeed him before his death in 2013. They have made similar comparisons between Maduro and other dictators directly against Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, claiming that they are so far to the left that they are “practically cousins of Fidel Castro.” 

Conservative personalities also claimed that Biden’s proposal to reform the Supreme Court, which includes measures to establish term limits for justices and an enforceable ethics code, is “very dangerous” and “exactly what Hugo Chavez did” in Venezuela, referring to the court-packing and institutional reengineering that were mainstays of his regime since he assumed power in 1999.

• ​​​​​In a video shared on YouTube, John Acquaviva claimed Biden’s decision to step down and endorse Kamala Harris “reminds” him “a lot of what happens in countries like mine, like Venezuela.” Acquaviva, a conservative YouTube personality with over 335,000 subscribers, argued that leaders in the Democratic Party “intentionally” pushed Biden’s June debate against Trump so they could use it “as an argument to get Joe Biden out of the way.” He added that this was “an internal hit called by the Democratic high command.” [YouTube, 7/21/24]

• In response to Biden’s announcement that he was withdrawing and endorsing Harris, Luis Sin Filtro claimed Democrats did “exactly what the Castros did with Diaz-Canela in Cuba, and exactly what Chavez did with Nicolas Maduro In Venezuela.” Luis sin Filtro, a conservative social media personality with over 501,000 followers on TikTok, was responding to a roadside billboard comparing Donald Trump to former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. He claimed, “The Democrats who are spreading this false narrative are blind to how they snuck Kamala Harris in under their noses … without giving the people an opportunity to pick a competent candidate.” [TikTok, 7/22/24; NBC News, 6/18/24]

• PelcuasGB shared a video suggesting that “The Democratic Party is acting almost exactly like the dictatorial regime did in Venezuela with Hugo Chavez Frias, which hid his death.” Pelucas GB, a conservative TikTok personality with over 52,000 followers, also suggested that Biden dropped out of the race because he is “no longer among the living.” [TikTok, 7/23/24]

• While discussing Harris choosing Walz over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate, Alexandrino claimed Walz is “as leftist or more to the left of Harris.” She added, “Both are practically first cousins of Fidel Castro.” [La Nueva Poderosa, Dania Habla de Frente, 8/6/24]

• Carines Moncada warned her listeners to “pay attention” because “Kamala Harris said one of the things she would do is go against the Second Amendment,” adding that “one of the first things Hugo Chavez did was disarm the people.” [América TeVé, Hoy por Hoy, 7/30/24]

• Lucy Pereda compared Harris’ economic proposals, which include fighting high consumer prices by enacting a federal ban on price gouging, to policies from “Venezuela, Cuba, and the USSR.” The host claimed these plans have “alarmed even her most fervent supporters because they know that, like in the communist countries where they have been implemented, they have brought their economies to ruin.” [Radio Mambi, Lucy Pereda Sin Censura, 8/22/24; Media Matters, 8/21/24] 

• Following reports of Biden’s proposal for Supreme Court reform, Dania Alexandrino claimed that “any resemblance to dictatorial countries in Latin America is no coincidence.” She added that Biden is “seeking to upend the Supreme Court of the United States and stuff the Constitution's separations of powers up where the sun don't shine.” [La Nueva Poderosa, Dania Habla de Frente, 7/29/24]

• Voz Media senior editor Orlando Avendaño claimed Democrats' Supreme Court reform proposal “is very dangerous” because “packing the courts and limiting its power, or whatever, is exactly what Hugo Chavez did after his constituent assembly in ‘99.” Verónica Silveri, host of Voz Media’s daily news segment airing on YouTube and the Christian conservative network DayStar TV, agreed and asked a panel of guest analysts “if the United States could become another Venezuela if this happens.” Former Americano Media political director and Voz Media political correspondent Alfonso Aguilar claimed, “We are not there yet,” but warned that Democrats are “effectively directing us toward a regime without separation of powers and constitutional order, and where a few can impose their will over an immense majority of the citizenry.” [YouTube, 7/29/24]