Soros-backed effort alarms staffers at south Florida conservative station Radio Mambi
Brian Flood, Fox News
A group partially bankrolled by liberal billionaire George Soros is set to purchase 18 Hispanic radio stations across 10 different markets but conservatives are fighting back, calling it a move that "reeks of desperation" to control Latino voters who have been ditching the Democratic Party.
Steve Cortes, who was a member of former-President Trump campaign’s Hispanic Advisory Council, believes Soros’ latest move is a clear sign liberals "rightly fret about the incredible gains among Hispanics for the America First movement" that has caused many of them to ditch the Democratic Party
"The radicalism of the Democrats today has effectively left formerly Dem-leaning Latinos as political orphans," Cortes told Fox News Digital. "Hispanics increasingly rally to the America First combination of cultural conservatism plus patriotic populist economics."
The formation of the Latino Media Network, a new network set to be made up of the 18 Hispanic radio stations, was announced last week, and was partially financed by Lakestar Finance, an investment group affiliated with Soros Fund Management. The deal is pending regulatory approval but is expected to close later this year, giving new management plenty of time to make changes ahead of the 2024 election.
Jess Morales Rocketto, a former Hillary for America and AFL-CIO employee, and Stephanie Valencia, a former White House staffer during the Obama administration, are heading the venture, and say their purchase across the multitude of media markets will give them "access to one-third of the Hispanic population" within the U.S, according to an interview conducted by Axios.
The investment project comes as concern from Democrats continues to grow over the party's loss in support from large swaths of Hispanic voters. Media Research Center Latino director Jorge Bonilla believes the purchase of these stations by the Soros-funded Latino Media Network "reeks of desperation" ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
"The left, increasingly feeling entitled to Hispanics yet unable to persuade them, openly seeks to control their access to information. This is the true aim of the ‘Spanish-language disinformation’ campaign of the past few years. Censorship and control," Bonilla told Fox News Digital.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted, "A front group led by left wing operatives & financed by Soros linked money is buying up Spanish language radio stations because they still don’t realize that the reason why they are bleeding Hispanic support isn’t ‘misinformation’ it’s their socialism."
Religious liberty, parental rights, abortion, belief in the free-market system and comprehensive immigration reform that favors migrants who enter the country legally are thought to be among the topics that have made many Hispanics ditch Democrats.
The mainstream media has been sounding the alarm about Hispanic voters jumping ship for years, and recent headlines include FiveThirtyEight’s "Why The GOP Might Not Turn Off Conservative Latino Voters" and "Have Latinos Really Moved Toward The Republican Party?," Washington Post’s "Republican House Latinos mobilize to bolster ranks and influence" and CBS News’ "Hispanic voters’ support for GOP is increasing."
Former President Trump made significant gains with Latino voters in the 2020 election compared to 2016, aiding his comfortable victory in Florida. MSNBC aired a "Field Report" earlier this month on why they moved to the right, in part blaming "disinformation" and paranoia about communism and socialism.
Bonilla previously called it a "panic move" by Soros and noted WAQI 710 in Miami’s "iconic anti-communist" Radio Mambí was among the stations involved in the deal when covering the news for MRC Latino.
"Mambí has long been a thorn on the side of an entitled left that demands absolute control over what media Hispanics consume," Bonilla wrote. "With this move, the left doesn’t just establish a beachhead -- it also seizes the opposition’s crown jewel. Give the outbursts of glee among Hispanic progressives on social media when the deal was announced, it is hard to imagine Mambí not getting shut down or ‘restructured’ once the deal closes."
Bonilla isn’t the only person concerned about Mambí, as there is an internal mutiny brewing at the station, according to an insider.
"They hate us, but I will never receive $1 from George Soros, so my days are coming to an end," a current Radio Mambí staffer told Fox News Digital.
The staffer said colleagues are concerned that conservative voices will be silenced and advertisers will flee as a result – if the station still exists following the completion of the deal.
"They are doing this to silence us… it’s a dangerous situation," they added. "Honesty, I’m scared. This is absolutely crazy."
Despite the concern, Bonilla feels "'Radio Soros' can’t fill shelves with baby formula, bring gas prices down to $2/gallon, fix the border crisis or reduce crime in the cities," so the move might not be a successful one for Democrats.
"This is a significant development inasmuch as it lays a marker down, but not one that is permanently transformative or even a game-changer, given the left's current existing near-monopoly on Spanish-language media," Bonilla continued. "One does not imagine that this venture will successfully wokeshame folks along the Rio Grande Valley into changing their existing voting patterns, or that the potential shuttering of the Cuban-American flagship radio station will go unanswered."
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis already hit back by purchasing an ad buy on two Miami radio stations being acquired by the new left-wing radio network.
"The Soros-funded radical Left is running a scheme to manipulate local media in Florida to push their Marxist agenda on voters," DeSantis tweeted. "In Florida, we reject the professional Left & their attempt to infiltrate our state & will always stand for truth and freedom."
The new DeSantis ad, which will air on Radio Mambí and WQBA-AM, warns voters about the media purchase and touts his stance against "leftist disinformation" as he continues the "fight against socialism in America."
The DeSantis campaign told Fox News Digital "Governor Ron DeSantis is taking [on] Soros on his own turf with a Spanish language ad buy on the Soros network, serving as a PSA to Hispanic Floridians to warn of the pro-socialism, radical agenda behind The Latino Media Network
Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.
Brian Flood is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to brian.flood@fox.com and on Twitter: @briansflood.
