CPAC Goes International

CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) holds its annual gathering from February 21 to February 24 in National Harbor, Maryland. The meeting is one of the biggest gatherings of conservatives in America.

On Friday, Breitbart reported that Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador who just won reelection, will speak at the event.

The article reports:

CPAC, one of the biggest annual gatherings of conservatives in the United States, is taking place from February 21 to February 24 at the Gaylord Resort and Conference Center in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside the U.S. capital. CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU) every year going back decades. Many U.S. presidents have spoken there, and former President Donald Trump—the leading GOP candidate for president this year—is set to again address the conference with a record-setting 14th appearance. The previous record-holder by a GOP president was Ronald Reagan, who spoke 13 times at CPAC.

Bukele’s speech at CPAC will come on Thursday, February 22, ACU and CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp told Breitbart News. It comes after Bukele won reelection with more than 85 percent of the votes cast.

“It is our high honor to announce that El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele will add his voice on our opening day,” Schlapp told Breitbart News exclusively. “Bukele is an unapologetic traditionalist who encourages the American people to rediscover the values that made her strong and spread a freedom revolution that is now in jeopardy. In America, Hispanic voters, once a main component of the left’s political coalition, are realizing that the Socialist Democrat party hates their faith, their families, their traditions and their patriotism to their chosen country.”

Bukele, in a statement, said he is excited to speak at CPAC and that he plans to focus on his crackdown on crime in El Salvador.

The article concludes:

It’s not just wins by conservatives in places such as El Salvador where Bukele just won reelection or down in Argentina where newly elected President Javier Milei won in late 2023. In recent years Giorgia Meloni—a top conservative—won the prime minister position in Italy. What’s more, top conservatives are expected to take other elections worldwide including in Portugal in early 2024—while European Parliament elections will take place in the summer.

Schlapp told Breitbart News that CPAC is also hosting Santiago Abascal, a top conservative elected official in Spain, forecasting that his address could be similar to one Meloni gave to CPAC before she became prime minister of Italy.

“We just announced that Spain’s Santiago Abascal, a leading conservative elected official, will address our conference just as PM Georgia Meloni did before she became Italy’s Prime Minister,” Schlapp said.

This is good news for America and good news for the world. Freedom is on the march.

Things We Can Learn From Nayib Bukele

Nayib Bukele is the recently re-elected President of El Salvador. He won re-election by a landslide.

On Tuesday, Red State posted some interesting information about his victory.

The article reports:

As RedState reported, Nayib Bukele has secured a landslide re-election win in El Salvador. That came despite global accusations of authoritarianism and couched U.S. opposition, so much so that Bukele took to sarcastically calling himself the “world’s coolest dictator.”

He’s not a dictator, though, and to prove it, El Salvador welcomed in international election observers to monitor the process as the incumbent secured around 83 percent of the vote, demolishing his closest rival, a left-winger who only got seven percent. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mostly bit his tongue and put out a congratulatory message, though it was still laced with underhanded jabs at Bukele’s governance. 

“The United States values our strong relationship with the people of El Salvador, forged over 160 years and built on shared values, regional ties, and family connections. Events in El Salvador have a direct impact on U.S. interests at home and abroad. Only by working together can we achieve our full potential and overcome the greatest obstacles in our hemisphere and globally,” Blinken said. “Looking ahead, the United States will continue to prioritize good governance, inclusive economic prosperity, fair trial guarantees, and human rights in El Salvador under our Root Causes Strategy.”

Under Bukele’s leadership, El Salvador has gone from one of the most dangerous countries on earth to one of the safest. Using emergency powers granted to him by the nation’s legislative body, over 70,000 people have been arrested, a development that has sent many American liberals into fits of panic. You know what, though? It’s worked. 

People can walk their neighborhoods again without fear of being abducted and worse. Even the downtown area where Bukele’s victory speech took place was once ruled by gangs. El Salvador was a failed state, and despite cries of “authoritarian tendencies,” it is no longer one. That’s the reality, whether people like the methods or not.

American liberals are scared to death that Americans might follow the example of El Salvador and elect a President who would actually enforce laws and fight crime. Securing the southern border would be a good start. Of course it is President Trump who fits that description. It would be nice to see some of our major cities again become the tourist attractions they once were.

Quote Of The Week

The FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago was a disgrace, but I wonder if the Biden administration (yes, I think they all knew it was going to happen) thought about how the raid would play around the world.

Breitbart reported the following on Tuesday:

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele criticized the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) raid on former U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal residence at Mar-A-Lago on Monday in a statement posted by Bukele’s official Twitter account, the Spanish news agency Agencia EFE reported.

This is the tweet:

I think that is a very good question.

The article at Breitbart reports:

Bukele’s administration (2019-present) maintained friendly diplomatic relations with that of Trump during his presidency (2017-2021), Agencia EFE recalled on Monday, writing:

The Government of President Bukele was close to the Administration of former President Trump and the Salvadoran president maintained a close relationship with his ambassador -at the time- in Salvadoran territory, Ronald Johnson.

However, El Salvador’s relationship with the United States changed with the arrival of President Joe Biden and is currently tense due to some decisions made by Bukele that have been criticized by the Biden Administration.

The article concludes:

The U.S. State Department released a list on May 17, 2021, that labeled 17 Central American politicians, including current and former members of Bukele’s administration, as “corrupt.” The action seemingly prompted El Salvador’s congress to ratify a 2019 cooperation agreement with China — one of Washington’s top foes — the next day. El Salvador’s Congress ratified an economic cooperation agreement with Beijing on May 18, 2021, that was originally signed in 2019. The deal called for China’s government to invest $62 million in various infrastructure projects across El Salvador, including a water purification plant.

Bukele and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro both issued public statements in support of U.S. podcaster Joe Rogan on February 2. The two leaders expressed hope that Rogan would continue fighting for “freedom of the press” and “freedom of speech,” respectively, in America amid increased scrutiny of his podcasts from establishment media outlets.

And those are only some of the diplomatic accomplishments of the Biden administration.