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In Latino exile communities across the country, there is a growing question: is Kamala Harris truly a communist?
The vice-president has faced numerous misleading allegations of being a socialist or communist since becoming the Democratic presidential candidate, as reported by the US’s largest Spanish-language fact-checker Factchequeado.
Experts suggest that these claims prey on the “real fears” of some voters who escaped oppression in countries like Cuba and Venezuela.
One viral video showed Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz seemingly posing in front of a sign for the Revolutionary Communists of America, a far-left group.
However, the video was actually a fabrication, with the background digitally altered by a group of Donald Trump’s supporters known as the Dilley Meme Team.
The initial post garnered over 420,000 views, but it was widely shared by Spanish accounts and circulated offline.
“The doubt is everywhere: ‘Is this person a communist?’” Evelyn Pérez-Verdía, a cultural context strategist from south Florida, remarked to the BBC.
She heard the hosts of the Spanish-language radio station La Nueva Poderosa in Miami discussing the false meme and promptly contacted the station to clarify its inauthenticity.
“They have no shame in who they are,” the hosts remarked upon learning the truth.
She criticized the Democrat campaign for not adequately addressing these concerns, emphasizing the importance of respecting people’s genuine fears.
Fears weaponised
There are approximately 36.2 million eligible Latino voters in the US, constituting about 14.7% of the electorate, with a significant presence in swing states like Nevada and Arizona.
While not a monolithic voting bloc, Latinos have historically leaned towards the Democrats. However, recent polls indicate a shift towards the Republicans, attributed to various factors including the economy, immigration, and abortion rights.
For many immigrants, concerns about America today are shaped by their past traumas in their home countries.
Political messages warning of “socialism” or “communism” have been particularly prevalent in communities with large Cuban and Venezuelan populations, such as in south Florida.
These expatriates are susceptible to misinformation about communism due to the hardships they faced fleeing repression, noted Samantha Barrios, a Venezuelan-American in Miami.
She accused right-leaning Spanish media of exploiting these terms to instill fear in Venezuelans, Cubans, and Nicaraguans.
While some critique the Democrats for their response to political repression in Cuba or Venezuela, others caution against weaponizing legitimate concerns through false claims about Kamala Harris.
Ms. Pérez-Verdía concurs, urging a respectful approach towards addressing people’s apprehensions.
Debate fuels ‘communist’ claims
X/AI-generated image
Not all claims exclusively target Latinos, as per the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA), which monitors various social media platforms.
Prominent right-wing figures have amplified the narrative of a “fear of socialism” since 2020, fueling baseless allegations against Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
The surge in AI and doctored images linking Harris to communism is unprecedented, noted Laura Zommer, founder of Factchequeado.
Misinformation, including manipulated images, has been disseminated by Trump and his supporters, further exacerbating the situation.
Posts linking Harris to communism gained traction after the presidential debate, with Trump labeling her a “Marxist” and insinuating drastic policy changes.
Following the debate, terms like “Marxista” trended on social media, reflecting a heightened interest in Harris’s background.
The DDIA highlighted two particularly viral claims post-debate, one involving a fabricated document alleging Harris’s ties to the Russian communist party.
BBC Verify traced one such misinformation to a website enabling the creation of fake communist party documents, underscoring the prevalence of deceptive tactics in modern political discourse.
Getty Images ha compartido la imagen falsa, que fue compartida por primera vez en agosto, y ha sido vista más de medio millón de veces. Los republicanos han estado ganando terreno con los votantes latinos en los últimos años. El Partido Demócrata no es un partido socialista, ni afirma apoyar regímenes comunistas. Pero algunos miembros destacados como Bernie Sanders y Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez han descrito sus puntos de vista políticos como “socialistas democráticos”. Cuando era senadora de California, Harris fue co-patrocinadora del proyecto de ley de Sanders para Medicare para Todos, que habría traído un sistema de atención médica de pagador único a los EE. UU. Desde entonces, ha dicho que ya no apoya un sistema de atención médica de pagador único, que habría abolido a las aseguradoras privadas. Nunca ha abogado por políticas comunistas, como la abolición o la confiscación de la propiedad privada. El plan de Kamala Harris para frenar el “acaparamiento” en los supermercados ha sido citado en publicaciones de redes sociales en español como “comunista”. Musk afirmó que significaría “estantes vacíos, igual que en Venezuela”. Su propuesta, que implicaría pedir a la comisión de comercio que investigue aumentos de precios muy por encima del aumento en el costo de producción, está muy lejos de los controles de precios generalizados vistos en Cuba y Venezuela, que en parte se culpó de graves escaseces de alimentos. Pero para algunos votantes que huyeron de esos países, su miedo radica en cualquier cosa que sientan remotamente se asemeje a las políticas de los países de los que provienen. Duke Machado, quien dirige una página de Facebook republicana latina desde Texas llamada Latino Strikeforce, dijo que teme que si los demócratas ganan, el país estaría en una pendiente resbaladiza hacia el comunismo. “Si no tenemos cuidado, nos deslizaremos hacia Cuba y Venezuela. Su objetivo final es destruir el capitalismo”. Cuando se le preguntó si era responsable compartir temores de que los demócratas podrían convertir a EE. UU. en un país comunista con sus seguidores, incluidos exiliados latinos que habían huido de la represión, dijo: “No es irresponsable en absoluto. Lo veo como un deber”. Con informes adicionales de Kayleen Devlin de BBC Verify. Más sobre las elecciones en EE. UU.