The recent takeover by George Soros of 18 Hispanic radio stations, including Miami's flagship conservative Radio Mambí, has prompted three hosts to quit.
"This is going to be a failure — I am 100 percent sure of that," Venezuelan-born former Radio Mambí host Lourdes Ubieta told The New York Post. She quit the station after she learned of the takeover during the summer. "They did this to silence conservative Hispanic voices, but it's not going to work."
In June, the Soros-backed Latino Media Network bought Mambí, a prominent voice of anti-Communist Cuban exiles for decades, along with 17 other Spanish-language radio stations from TelevisaUnivision in a $60 million deal.
The newly formed network is run by former Democrats Stephanie Valencia and Jess Morales Rocketto, who worked on Barack Obama's and Hilary Clinton's political campaigns. Valencia worked in the Obama White House.
The key investment firm tied to the Soros Fund Management is Lakestar Finance, but individual investors include actress Eva Longoria.
The sale comprises 10 AM and eight FM stations in Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, and Las Vegas.
Florida GOP legislators opposed the FCC's approval of the purchase, saying the Latino Media Network could "exercise virtually uncontested influence over nearly one-third of all Hispanics across the country.
"Far from benign, the proposed sale is the latest in a series of moves by elite progressives desperate to claw back support from Hispanic voters, who have rightly turned their backs on Democrats and their socialist priorities," the lawmakers wrote.
Rubio said many utilized the network to voice their Cuban exile and feel "betrayed by the acquisition" to "a company financed by the left-liberal extremist, George Soros," while Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., released a series of ads criticizing the takeover.
Ubieta and two other Radio Mambí hosts, including Dania Alexandrino and Nelson Rubio, have quit over the new management and are now at Americano Radio in Miami, which maintains it's the nation's first conservative Spanish network.
"They want to silence and censor Hispanic conservative voices. They have a way of telling Democrats are the party of minorities and the party of the poor," Alexandrino said to The Post. "They treat Hispanics like victims."
Media Research Center director of MRC Latino Jorge Bonilla predicted there would be backlash from Hispanics as Democrats continue to lose support among Hispanics.
"It's a desperate move from the left to counter advances made by the Hispanic community, which is moving to the right," Bonilla said to The Post. "This is not about countering disinformation. It's about calling anything that deviates from the standard left line as 'disinformation.'"
Politico ran a story alleging "disinformation and deceptive claims" pushed upon the Latino community in September 2020.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., ran with the article a month later on Twitter.
"There is a massive Spanish-language disinformation campaign happening on social media networks targeting our election," AOC tweeted at the time. "Please check in on your parents and family and, if possible, coach them in how to identify questionable content."
Amore Rodriguez, secretary of the progressive group Florida Grassroots Coalition, grew up on Radio Mambí and said the rhetoric in recent years has been dishonest and destructive.
"What's really sad is that we've seen it turn into this manipulation and, to me, a very targeted fear tactic to get Latinos to freak out and be afraid of what this country can become," Rodriguez said.
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