The Republican National Convention (July 14–18) is many things to many people, but to the Impunity Observer it was an opportunity to share insights with a motivated and influential audience. On Tuesday, Editor-at-Large Steve Hecht and I hosted a presentation on US foreign policy in Latin America, and we were thrilled to have game-changing journalists and researchers accompany us before an audience of primarily Florida GOP members.
Although Representative Glenn Grothman (R-WI) was unable to make our event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, longtime investigative journalist Sara Carter was a welcome addition to the schedule. The other speakers were Hecht, María Herrera Mellado, Matthew Tyrmand, and yours truly.
Although sponsored by the Impunity Observer, the event was a personal initiative on the part of Hecht. With the title, “There’s Nothing They Won’t Do: Highlighting the Criminality of Joe Biden, the Foreign-Policy Establishment,” Hecht’s objective was to bring counterproductive foreign policy to the forefront of 2024 campaigns. Further, he pointed out the way lawfare abroad had now come home to roost in the United States.
Tyrmand, a Polish-US dual citizen, observed that highlighting anti-US and/or criminal actions on the part of the US State Department was the raison d’être of the event. Hecht spoke twice and underlined that theme. He addressed topics and individuals that will be familiar to Impunity Observer readers, in particular the Baxter case, which implicates President Joe Biden in corruption in Guatemala and Mexico.
Herrera Mellado, a lawyer by trade and Spanish-US dual citizen, introduced her new journalistic project: Gateway Hispanic. A Spanish extension of the Gateway Pundit, this project just went live within the last week. Herrera Mellado’s primary topic was out-of-control and weaponized illegal immigration. She believes Hispanics in the United States are natural social conservatives, but she is concerned that manipulation of the immigration system is directing many of them to become devoted Democratic Party supporters.
Carter is a longtime Fox News contributor and lamented that corruption from US officials and mishandling of Latin America were deep-seated problems. She has been covering them for many years and is of Cuban heritage. Akin to Herrera Mellado, Carter sees lawless immigration as becoming an invasion, paradoxically invited by an anti-American federal government. She also pointed to two tiers of rules: one set for US citizens and legal permanent residents and another for illegals. The latter, she says, are being catered to: “catch-and-release has become a release with barely any catch.”
Tyrmand, who wears too many hats and avoids titles, gave an account of his visit to Brazil and how, tragically, US officials sided with hardline socialist and anti-US Lula da Silva in his campaign for president. Tyrmand shared that Brazil’s most notable independent journalists are now all in exile, given flagrant repression at home. Further, Tyrmand emphasized the monarch-like status of the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court.
He went there with Jason Miller, a former advisor to then President Donald Trump, and they were both not permitted to leave the country freely. Tyrmand called on the US embassy for support, but to no avail. In the end, official support on account of his Polish citizenship let him and his traveling companions return to the United States.
About 35 guests attended the two-hour presentation, with some departing and others entering, given the busy RNC itinerary. The smaller group enabled more personal engagement, and the attendees got to meet journalists at the forefront of independent Latin America coverage. However, the consensus among those there was that more people need to be aware of the content and that the RNC’s private nature, security measures, and countless competing events impeded participation.
Join us in our mission to foster positive relations between the United States and Latin America through independent journalism.
As we improve our quality and deepen our coverage, we wish to make the Impunity Observer financially sustainable and reader-oriented. In return, we ask that you show your support in the form of subscriptions.
Non-subscribers can read up to six articles per month. Subscribe here.