In response to the FBI's search of Mar-A-Lago on Monday, August 8, conservative actors on Spanish-language social media and radio stations have mimicked their English-language counterparts by attacking the FBI and the Biden administration. Figures went as far as to claim “there is no difference between the FBI and the KGB,” and that the search was evidence of electoral fraud right "in front of our eyes.”

These attacks ignored the fact that President Joe Biden was not involved in the search, and that the agency is led by a Trump-appointed official. 

The growing Spanish-language conservative network Americano Media is particularly concerning. By way of their SiriusXM channel, Americano Radio, Americano Media has become a leading platform for Hispanic conservatives to spread right-wing conspiracy theories and anti-LGTBQ hate to their Latino audiences. During a special coverage event held on August 9 to celebrate the launch of their new streaming service, Americano Media personalities and guests promoted attacks against FBI agents and compared the Bureau to secret police agencies in Latin American authoritarian regimes.

Comparing the search to authoritarian practices

Consistent with English right-wing media attacks, Spanish-speaking conservatives have categorized the FBI search as a Third World tactic, drawing comparisons to censorship operations by secret police agencies in authoritarian countries. 

• Agustin Laje, a popular Argentinian conservative pundit and author with over 600,000 followers on Twitter, compared the search to the “politicization of law enforcement” as seen in Latin America: “How the hell does the FBI raid Trump's house before Hunter Biden's? The FBI needs to explain its actions immediately to the American people. As we have seen in Latin America, the politicization of the application of the law is very dangerous for a country.” [Twitter, translated from Spanish, 8/8/22]

• Freddy Silva, a conservative journalist who often spreads translated right-wing misinformation to his more than 5,000 followers on Facebook, shared a Fox News Clip of Dan Bongino calling the search “third world bullshit”: “Very much in agreement with @dbongino, what they did to President Donald Trump only happens in the Banana Republics and in Joe Biden’s socialist government. Shameful actions by the DOJ and the FBI.” [Twitter, 8/8/22, translated from Spanish]

• On her show, Actualidad Noticiosa, conservative radio host Lucia Navarro, claimed “communist leaders in Latin America” are laughing at the United States: “I believe that the United States at this moment … is a laughingstock. The United States’ democratic system is a laughingstock in many countries. And I assure you that the communist leaders in Latin America are enjoying themselves and laughing at what is happening in the United States at this moment.” [Americano Media, 8/8/22]

• Original Spanish: “Lo que está sucediendo en el país, la forma en la que están derrumbando instituciones que nos caracterizaban, que nos hacían ser líderes en democracia, ejemplo de democracia en todo el planeta. Creo que Estados Unidos en este momento, después de esto, es el hazme reír. El sistema democrático de los Estados Unidos es el hazme reír, en muchos países. Y le aseguro, que los líderes comunistas de América Latina están gozando y riéndose de lo que está sucediendo en los Estados Unidos en este momento.” 

• During a live-stream interview with Americano Media, guest Ron Aledo claimed the FBI had been turned “into a dictator-style political police”: “To do this show, this horrific spectacle, obviously means this is all a spectacle to attack the Republican Party, to attack Trump, and to attack his followers. Something completely illegal, without any sort of ethics. They have turned the Department of Justice and the FBI into a dictator-style political police force.” Navarro added, “The KGB.” [Americano Media, 8/8/22]

• Original Spanish: “Pero hacer este show, entrar a la residencia de un ex presidente con montones de agentes del FBI, posiblemente romperle su caja fuerte, porque dijo Trump que han entrado a su caja fuerte. Hacer este show, este espectáculo de dantesco, obviamente significa que es simplemente una utilización de show, de espectáculo para atacar al partido republicano, para atacar a Trump, para atacar a sus seguidores. Algo completamente ilegal, algo completamente sin ningún tipo de ética. Han convertido al Departamento de Justicia y al FBI en una policía política estilo dictaduras.” 

• Lourdes Ubieta, the host of the conservative radio show Asi Esta El Mundo, claimed Democrats are trying to turn the United States into a dictatorship: “The Democrats are trying to do this without any judicial or ethical basis to disrupt, just like they do in Latin American dictatorships, like in Nicaragua, or in Venezuela, or in Cuba.” [Americano Media, 8/9/22]

• Original Spanish: “Estos trapos rojos que están tratando de hacer los demócratas sin base ni fundamento jurídico legal, para irrumpir, como en cualquier dictadura Latinoamericana, como en Nicaragua, como en Venezuela, como en Cuba hicieron, a hacerlo en Estados Unidos.” 

Fearmongering about the search as an unprecedented constitutional crisis

Spanish-language conservatives spread baseless claims that the FBI’s search at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence had been unconstitutional and would set a precedent for future privacy and civil rights violations. 

• Americano Media shared translated quotes from a Fox News article in which Michael Caputo claimed, “there is no difference between FBI and the KGB”: “America, right now, is in a constitutional crisis. There is no difference between the FBI and the KGB. We are living in Russia!!!!" [Twitter, translated from Spanish, 8/8/22]

• Americano Media personality Dania Alexandrino, who has nearly 12,000 followers on Twitter, shared the same Fox News article labeling the search a “full-blown constitutional crisis”: “Former Trump official Michael Caputo blasts FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid: 'Full-blown constitutional crisis.' [Twitter, 8/9/22]

• Emmanuel Rincon, editor-at-large for bilingual conservative outlet El American, claimed the search would change the course of American history: “Trump was branded a dictator and a fascist. But during his administration, no opponent was persecuted or imprisoned, and the media and social networks did not censor information to protect him. Today the FBI raided Trump's home, something that will change the history of the United States." [Twitter, translated from Spanish, 8/8/22] 

• Laura De Rosa, the chief editor for dissident Spanish-language news publication The Freedom Post, claimed the search was “unprecedented” and “very serious”: “The FBI raiding the house of a former President, Donald Trump, is something unprecedented and very serious. It doesn't matter if you like or dislike Donald Trump.” [Twitter, translated from Spanish, 8/8/22]

Claiming the search was politically motivated

Consistent with English right-wing media attacks, popular Spanish-language misinformers spread claims of a politically motivated plot to thwart former President Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Some Spanish-language right-wing publications went as far as to accuse President Biden of personal vendetta, despite the fact he did not know the FBI would be conducting a search at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence.

• Americano Media posted a quote from Caputo on Twitter claiming Democrats are trying to instigate violence: “Democrats want violence, they are pushing every button they can.” [Twitter, translated from Spanish, 8/8/22]

• La Derecha Diario, a popular right-wing publication with over 172,000 followers on Twitter, falsely claimed “Biden freaked out” and “sent the FBI”: “Biden freaked out. He sent the FBI to raid Trump at Mar-A-Lago, broke into his safes, and took his computers.” [Twitter, translated from Spanish, 8/8/22]

• During Americano Media’s special coverage of the event, Navarro claimed Democrats are trying to “silence the voices of democracy”: “We are clearly seeing how the Democratic Party, the Biden administration … are trying to silence the voices of democracy in the United States.” Navarro added that she thinks there is no chance of a natural rebound in Biden’s approval ratings “like what is needed to win a second term,” suggesting that this explains the FBI search. [Americano Media, 8/8/22]

• Original Spanish: “”Que viene a sucumbir cualquier posibilidad de reconocer que hay democracia en Estados Unidos. Estamos viendo claramente como el Partido Demócrata, la administración Biden, al verse perdido, por la encuesta de popularidad que realizó Americano en los pasados días en la convención de CPAC en Dallas. Todas las encuestas que marcan una popularidad bajísima, bajísima de Joe Biden, sin posibilidad de repunte como para ganar un segundo período en la presidencia. Están los demócratas intentando silenciar las voces de la democracia en Estados Unidos.”

• Navarro also claimed the search was evidence of Democrats “committing fraud weeks before the midterm elections”: “One of the things that they are trying to do with this open border policy is somehow harvest voting and promoting the mail-in-ballot is another way to prepare the scenario for an electoral fraud, and that’s exactly what they’re trying to do, trying to stop any possibility of Donald Trump running for presidency. … They’re trying to commit a fraud, I mean right in front of our eyes, and it’s because we’re just weeks away of midterms election.” [Americano Media, 8/8/22]

• During a live-stream interview with Americano Media, Aledo claimed, “Biden’s handlers are using the FBI” to attack former president Trump: “Biden, Biden's handlers, Obama, are using the FBI and the Department of Justice in a completely unethical way. They have used it in a political way to attack MAGA, to attack Donald Trump, and his supporters. They are trying to do something politically desperate, obviously to affect and influence the midterm elections.” [Americano Media, 8/8/22]

• Original Spanish: “…Comey, el ex-director del FBI, que era un infiltrado allí de la izquierda, de los RINOs, era un infiltrado del establishment que quería destruir a Trump y ahora lo están haciendo abiertamente usando el poder. Biden, los manejadores de Biden, Obama, están utilizando el FBI y el Departamento de Justicia de una manera completamente falta de ética, lo han utilizado de una manera política para atacar a MAGA, para atacar a Donald Trump, a sus seguidores. Están tratando de hacer algo desesperado políticamente para obviamente afectar y influir las elecciones de midterms.”

• Popular Spanish-language misinformer César Vidal, who has over 152,000 followers on Twitter, suggested the search would make the 2024 Presidential election unfair: “The FBI has broken into the residence of Donald Trump. There is no room for doubt that his very name causes panic in the ranks of the Democratic Party. They know he could win the Republican nomination and that in a fair election, he would crush Biden.” [Twitter, translated from Spanish, 8/9/22]

• On Americano Media’s Buenos Dias Americano, host Nelson Rubio claimed it was “a political move by the Biden administration”: “Those who can't see that this is a political move by the Biden administration to try and stop - I mean, wouldn't we be lying to ourselves, as citizens, and as people?” [Americano Media, 8/9/22]

• Original Spanish: “Esto es selectivo y político, Bob. Perdona, porque legalmente es selectivo y político, todo lo que se está haciendo. O sea, el que no se de cuenta que esto es un acción política de la administración Biden para tratar de frenar-o sea ¿nos estaremos mintiendo a nosotros como pueblo y como gente, no?”

• During an interview with Ubieta, Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñezs claimed the search was “political revenge” and a plan hatched by the Biden administration to confuse voters: “This is not a question of terrorism, it’s not a question of serious crimes. This simply has to do with political revenge.” She added, “it is an opportunity for the Biden administration to try to confuse us and blind us from everything that is happening around the country.” [Americano Media, 8/9/22]

• Original Spanish: “…yo también estoy anonadada. Es algo que es inconcebible pensar de que hayan mandado 30 agentes del FBI para buscar unos documentos. Esto no es cuestión de terrorismo, no es cuestión de crimenes serio. Esto es simplemente una venganza política, y yo creo que la administracion Biden, como bien estabas explicando, está tratando de confundir, está tratando de dejar que uno se de cuenta los problemas serios que están existiendo hoy diía debido a la política desastrosa de Joe Biden, tanto en la frontera, con las drogas, con el tráfico humano, con la recesión, con la inflación que estamos viendo, lo más alto en 40 años, los precios en los supermercados que…no da a vasto. Yo creo que es una oportunidad en la administración Biden de buscar la manera de confundir y ofuscar a nosotros de lo que está sucediendo en este país.”

Attacking the FBI

Fixated on closed or fabricated investigations of Hunter Biden and Hillary Clinton, Spanish-speaking conservatives claimed evidence of an ideological bias within the Justice Department, framing the search as an organized plot to hurt Trump ahead of the 2024 Presidential election. On Americano Media, pundits went as far as to call for the resignation of federal agents.

• Americano Media posted a quote from Caputo on Twitter calling for Republicans to “dishonor” the FBI agents that took part in the search. He would go on to call on them to resign: “We have to vote for Republican in November, pray every day, and dishonor every member of the FBI that was at Mar A Lago today.” He continued, “Every FBI agent sitting at home right now, watching how they raid the President’s house, should resign. If you don't, YOU are part of the problem.” [Twitter, translated from Spanish, 8/8/22, 8/8/22] 

• During an interview with Americano Media, Jorge Bonilla, director of MRC Latino, claimed the FBI was biased against Republicans: "...If they come after Trump with weak evidence, this same FBI that has refused to prosecute Jeffrey Epstein's client list …Hunter Biden’s different charges, and let Hillary Clinton off easy for the whole email thing… How are you going to tell me now that they are coming for Donald Trump? That is a serious problem and one telling of authoritarian tendencies.” [Americano Media, 8/8/22]

• Original Spanish: “Más vale, o sea, por el bien de la República que lo que tenga el FBI sea oro y se algo impecable porque si vienen tras de Trump con evidencia floja, este mismo FBI que se ha negado a enjuiciar a la lista de clientes de Jeffrey Epstein … los distintos casos de Hunter Biden, que le hecho el pañito tibio a Hillary Clinton por lo de los emails. ¿Y me vas a decir que vienen ahora por Donald Trump? Eso es un problema serio y eso lo que muestra es una tendencia autoritaria.”

• During an interview with Americano Media, Pedro Israel Orta, a former CIA Intelligence officer, falsely claimed the FBI manufactured evidence against Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and Donald Trump: “Do we trust the FBI? Absolutely not. We saw what they did to General Flynn; they manufactured evidence. We saw what they did to Roger Stone; they manufactured evidence. I would not be surprised if the FBI tries to manufacture evidence against Trump…to find a way to stop him from being the candidate for the presidency in 2024.” [Americano Media, 8/8/22]

• Hermann Tertsch, a far-right Spanish journalist and member of the European Parliament with more than 300,000 followers on Twitter, criticized the FBI for searching Trump’s home after ignoring “unequivocal evidence” of crimes committed by Hunter Biden: “The FBI searches, for the first time in history, the home of a former president, Trump, but still does not take action in the face of unequivocal evidence of Biden’s son having sex and doing drugs with minors, and his business dealings with China and Ukraine that resulted in Biden Sr. becoming vice president.” [Twitter, translated from Spanish, 8/9/22]