Madrid Forum
The Madrid Forum (Spanish: Foro Madrid) is an anti-communist organization created on 26 October 2020 by the Disenso Foundation think tank of the far-right Spanish political party Vox. Its founding document, the Madrid Charter, includes signatures by Trumpist members of the Republican Party in the United States,[1][2][3][4] Venezuelan opposition members, Cuban dissidents, Fujimorists of Peru,[5] and other representatives of political parties from Latin America.[3]
Formation
26 October 2020
Anti-communist organization
Ibero-American network of Far-right political parties and organisations
Ibero-America
Background[edit]
The Madrid Charter was a manifesto created as part of an effort to create the Madrid Forum, an anti-communist international organization with a "permanent structure and an annual action plan".[1][2][6] Vox initially introduced the project to the government of then United States president Donald Trump while visiting the United States in February 2019, with Santiago Abascal using his good relations with the administration to build support within the Republican Party and establishing strong ties with American trumpists.[4][6]
In March 2019, Abascal tweeted an image of himself wearing a morion similar to a conquistador. The conservative newspaper ABC wrote that this event provided a narrative that "symbolizes in part the expansionist mood of Vox and its ideology far from Spain".[7] On 3 March 2020, Abascal met with Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, to discuss the creation of the Madrid Forum.[8] The charter subsequently grew to include signers that had little to no relation to Latin America and Spanish-speaking areas.[9]
The Madrid Forum was destined to hold its first event in Madrid in June 2020; it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Madrid Charter converting into an online document presented on 26 October 2020.[4][6]
Madrid Charter
Meetings[edit]
1st Regional Meeting[edit]
The 1st Regional Meeting of Foro Madrid was held in Bogotá in February 2022.[30][31] At the meeting, a group of fifty far-left protesters gathered to denounce the Madrid Forum, some chanting "Bogotá will be the tomb of fascism", with some individuals damaging the exterior of the hotel where the event occurred.[31] Police dispersed the protesters and the forum accused leftist presidential candidate Gustavo Petro of organizing the protests.[31][32] During the event, the forum emphasized the importance of the upcoming 2022 Colombian presidential election and the 2022 Brazilian general election, saying a threat of "narco-communist threat" loomed over Latin America.[32]
2nd Regional Meeting[edit]
During the 2nd Regional Meeting of Foro Madrid, which was held in Lima in March 2023, was virtually attended by Abascal, who described the Sao Paulo Forum and the Puebla Group as "criminal organizations".[33][5] The forum also called for the ousting of Petro, who became president of Colombia, stating that the 2022 Colombian presidential election was fraudulent, and alleged that he was aligned with drug traffickers and that Russia interfered with social networks to support him.[34] Conservative Peruvian newspaper El Comercio described the meeting as an event "with some radicalisms for the grandstand and no narrative that promises change from the right",[35] while Wayka described it as a "meeting of the fascist extreme right", and cited Elisabeth Dulanto Baquerizo de Miró Quesada of the family that owns El Comercio Group as one of the attenders; her company helped to host the meeting.[30]
Analysis[edit]
According to the Spanish newspaper El País, Vox organized groups of Evangelicals, Catholics, neoconservatives, right-wing populists, and individuals "nostalgic for military dictatorships" with the Madrid Charter.[6] The Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt described the charter and Madrid Forum as "a first attempt to regroup the forces of the hard right" into a "Brown International", and commented that the Madrid Charter is "co-signed by parties and personalities of the extreme right that have nothing to do with Latin America or with the Spanish language."[9] Página 12, a Kirchnerist newspaper edited in Buenos Aires, described the initiative as a "cultural war" declared by Vox and "a conservative offensive on what democratic advances that had or have begun in Latin America at the beginning of this century".[14] Political scientist Kathy Zegarra of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru discussed Keiko Fujimori's participation with Vox's initiative. She said: "It's beneficial for the far-right public. However, it generates liabilities especially for those citizens who have more tolerant ideas; ... it is negative for those citizens who have more progressive values, who have values in favor of human rights."[18] Khemvirg Puente, a political scientist of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said that the participation of PAN politicians in the charter was a way for Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador to confirm his rhetoric against the party and that this act moved the party to the far right, making it unattractive to voters.[19] In Peru, prominent heads of businesses, especially in the mining industry, supported the Madrid Forum.[30]