Caracas Chronicles

“Evelyn, I am a Democrat. I’m just not a ‘raised-fist-in-the-air’ Democrat,” my Colombian-American friend, a U.S. citizen raised in both countries, told me recently. She had been a Democrat all of her life and was heavily involved in the 2020 presidential election. She is now a “No Party Affiliation”-voter (also called “independent”). She finds the messaging and symbols used by Democrats no longer represent her, and the party’s lack of focus on Latin American issues and diaspora engagement in national political campaigns disheartening. 

She is not alone: nearly 150,000 Florida Hispanics have left the Democratic party since 2020, many switching to “No Party Affiliation” and most defecting to the Republican party.

Much has been said about the Latino and Hispanic vote in this November’s razor-thin presidential election, as journalists and pundits attempt to quickly sketch out the motivations and intentions of a diverse group of over 36.2 million eligible Hispanic voters. In 2020, 16.5 million Hispanics in the U.S. voted in the presidential election. One crucial element is missing from the current conversation: The Hispanic vote is not a monolith, and the Democrat’s use of symbols and messages is backfiring as they remind naturalized Hispanic-American voters of their historic traumas from their country of origin. Meanwhile, Republican messaging is capitalizing on these dynamics.

Let’s start with the raised fist. Major publications worldwide published the image of Donald Trump with a fist in the air as Secret Service agents escorted him offstage after the assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania campaign rally this year. The raised fist is a symbol repeatedly used by both Democrats and Republicans that I have been researching these past years. At the Democratic Convention in Chicago, video images of raised fists alternated with the well-known Obama message of “Hope.”

We don’t all process the raised fist through the same lens. For some U.S.-born Americans, it represents the workers’ liberation or anti-fascist movements of the 20th century. For those participating in social justice movements against racism, the fist has been a symbol since the Civil Rights movement. 

Nearly 150,000 Florida Hispanics have left the Democratic party since 2020, many switching to “No Party Affiliation” and most defecting to the Republican party.

In the context of Hispanic diasporic experiences, a raised fist is closely connected to historical references to communism or socialism and is often associated with the brutal treatment of citizens in Latin America, which they have also experienced from dictatorships on the right. This imprint of left and right extremism remains with many of those families to this day.

The use of symbols like the fist can confuse voters. Add the rebranding of Democratic priorities from “liberal” to “progressive,” and we enter an increasingly complex communications ecosystem that is unfavorable for Democratic-leaning Hispanics to support the Harris-Walz ticket. 

To understand this, consider that “progressive,” in Spanish, translates to “progresista.” While U.S. Democrats try to recast the term as a synonym of an equitable, forward-looking agenda of opportunity and prosperity [for all], it conveys a very different meaning south of the U.S. border, and for some expats who comprise the 40 million Hispanics that speak Spanish at home. 

In 2020, the Venezuelan autocrat, Nicolás Maduro, addressed a packed auditorium in Cuba and spoke of a new anti-imperialist alliance called  “El Frente Progresista” (the “Progressive Front”). Ecuador’s former president, Rafael Correa, a leftist leader who uses the “democratic socialist” label for his revolutionary party, equates progressives to a new wave in Latin America. The current left-leaning president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, recently labeled his government as ‘progressive.’ Throughout Latin America, the historic term ‘Communism’ has been aggressively re-labeled as ‘Socialism’ and ‘Progressivism.’

So, when U.S. Democrats adopt the label “Democratic Socialists” or “Democratic Progressives,” for some Hispanic expats, “it’s like saying they are ‘Democratic Nazis.’ The words trigger memories of repression, persecution, and hardships,” a Cuban-American Democratic strategist and former national Hispanic television executive once told me. Republican messaging strategists know this tune and rarely miss a beat in their speeches and social media, linking Democratic Party leaders to repressive Latin American regimes. Many Hispanics remember a 2020 Trump campaign video repeating “progresista” to link then-candidate Joe Biden to Latin American dictators and leftists. 

Similar tactics are now being repeated. Fake and doctored AI memes of Vice President Kamala Harris in a communist leader’s uniform flooded X (formerly Twitter). Harris and Walz, in front of a fake “Revolutionary Communists of America” banner, are referenced without being vetted or questioned on South Florida radio. These messages are digitally weaponized on platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp, and an altered AI image attributed to Elon Musk received over 83.9 million views, becoming an eerie modern cyber-messaging parallel of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels’ maxim of repeating a lie until it becomes belief. 

At the 2024 Democratic convention, Nicaraguan-American political commentator Ana Navarro did characterize the Communist attacks on Harris as nonsense, but Hispanics did not hear that message directly from Kamala Harris. Also, there was no mention of Latin America in the VP’s speeches. 

Finally, at the presidential debate, a mere mention from the VP about solidarity with the Venezuelan people in their electoral win over Maduro and against authoritarians from the left or right – emphasizing that she is no “Marxist,” but a democrat – would have helped. 

Endorsing strong and functional democracies in Latin America will ease the pressures to migrate north and position Harris as a leader and advocate for Latin America and the Caribbean (and not just for Cubans, Venezuelans, or Nicaraguans); moreover, it is a necessary message to U.S. Hispanic voters from these 21 Spanish-speaking countries who have made the United States their home and are currently unsure about who deserves their vote. It was another missed opportunity. I was reminded of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who said in Miami in 2015: “The United States too often looks east and west, but we don’t look south. Our economies, our communities, and even our families are deeply entwined.” 

As a cultural-context advisor who has advised non-partisan organizations and institutions on messaging and engagement with Hispanic and Latino communities for the past 22 years, I have heard centrists (Hispanic voters who are moderate democrats, independents [NPAs], and moderate republicans) who are likely to decide the winner of the upcoming election repeatedly saying they want to hear that candidates will help the economy, small businesses, and compassionate capitalism. They want to feel that candidates care for their loved ones still in their country of origin. They want to see raised hands held together, and descriptions of democratic values that resonate with Hispanic-American experiences of life in their former country and their new home, the United States. 

Terminologies like “pro-democracy” resonate better and are less likely to misfire than “progressive.” 

The Democratic Party’s historic advantage with Hispanics and Latinos is shrinking, as many new voters opt to register as Republicans or No Party Affiliation. The words and symbols Democrats use to identify themselves may provoke different reactions. A Mexican American born in California may be motivated by the Progressives’ fists. However, it may also trigger rejection from a Venezuelan-born, now-naturalized citizen and Florida voter. We are diverse, but many things unite us, like wanting the best for our future and families.A Latin American cliché we often say is: “El que calla, otorga” (which translates as “silence gives consent,”) meaning that not responding to concerns concedes the point made. But we who care about keeping democratic institutions strong also fear that the eligible U.S. Hispanic voters in diasporic groups will again be ignored, even if their votes count the same as any other voter. The consequences of the Democrats’ use of triggering messaging and symbols and not addressing the concerns of our expat communities will continue to be revealed as more Hispanic Democrats jump off the ship. These missed opportunities will surely and eventually need to be addressed and reckoned with, no matter the result of this close and hard-fought presidential race.