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,   Venezuelan opposition members, Cuban dissidents, Fujimorists of Peru, and other representatives of political parties from Latin America.

Background
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". 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.

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". 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. The charter subsequently grew to include signers that had little to no relation to Latin America and Spanish-speaking areas.

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.

Madrid Charter
The Madrid Charter: In Defense of Freedom and Democracy in the Iberosphere (Spanish: Carta de Madrid: en defensa de la libertad y la democracia en la Iberosfera), also known as the Letter from Madrid, was a manifesto created on 26 October 2020 by the Disenso Foundation think tank of Vox. The document denounced left-wing organizations in Ibero-America, said these groups pose a threat to liberal democracy through communism, and that part of the region "is held hostage by totalitarian regimes of communist inspiration, supported by drug trafficking and third countries, all of them under the umbrella of Cuba".

The Madrid Charter was primarily signed by conservative, ultraconservative, and far-right politicians from the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula. Chilean politician José Antonio Kast, one of the document's signatories, proposed in October 2021 that the signatories of the Madrid Charter establish an International Anti-Radical Left Coordination, stating that "what is happening in Colombia is no coincidence. The model of the antisocial outbreak is repeated in Chile."

Content
In the document, signatories define two entities; the first is an allied Iberosphere of nations holding the same roots to the Iberian Peninsula and the second are left-wing groups, such as the São Paulo Forum and the Puebla Group, which the charter describes as an enemy and threat to freedom. The letter condemns leftist groups as being under the influence of Cuba, stating that they are "under the umbrella of the Cuban regime", describes part of the region as being "kidnapped by totalitarian communist-inspired regimes, supported by drug trafficking", and says that leftist groups hold an "ideological agenda" to destabilize liberal governments. The letter cites respect for the rule of law, separation of powers, and private property. It called for scholars, the media, and other groups to uphold the objectives of the Madrid Charter.

Promotion
Delegates of Vox travelled throughout Latin America to promote and obtain signatures for the manifesto, meeting with politicians in Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. While promoting the charter in Ecuador, Vox delegate Hermann Tertsch said that signatures were necessary to counter "narcosocialism", arguing that "[a]ll Latin American countries are threatened by the same totalitarian project funded mainly by Venezuelan oil and drug trafficking", which Tertsch said was guided by Cuba. At the meetings in Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso's recently-nominated Minister of National Defense Fernando Donoso signed the document along with members of the Social Christian Party and.

In Mexico, the visit and signature collection event by Vox caused controversy when National Action Party (PAN) legislators signed the charter. PAN politicians received criticism on social media that resulted with conflicts within the party. Shortly after participating with Vox, PAN politicians distanced themselves from signing the manifesto, while the party's official Twitter deleted an image of PAN members meeting with Vox representatives. Due to Vox's controversial visit, discussions occurred of Mexico possibly enforcing Article 33 of the Constitution of Mexico, which grants the expulsion of foreign individuals for interfering in Mexican political affairs. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of Mexico, declined this option by stating that "Mexico is a free country. I also say this so that if the gentleman of Vox, Abascal, wants to come again, he can do it. The doors of our country are open, they are always welcome. All foreigners, even if they are opponents."

Peruvian investigative journalism website OjoPúblico wrote in an article discussing far-right alliances in the Americas that members of Vox travelled to Peru to obtain signatures, with the parties Go on Country of Hernando de Soto, Popular Force of Keiko Fujimori, and Popular Renewal of Rafael López Aliaga signing the document. Peruvian business executives, including the owner of Willax Televisión, also participated in discussions and signed the charter. Additionally, Vox created an e-participation initiative in Peru to gather signatures from Peruvian citizens.

1st Regional Meeting
The 1st Regional Meeting of Foro Madrid was held in Bogotá in February 2022. 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. Police dispersed the protesters and the forum accused leftist presidential candidate Gustavo Petro of organizing the protests. 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.

2nd Regional Meeting
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". 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. 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", 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.

Analysis
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. 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." 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". 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." 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. In Peru, prominent heads of businesses, especially in the mining industry, supported the Madrid Forum.