US vice chairman Kamala Harris has faced many misleading statements linking her to communism or socialism since she became the Democratic presidential candidate, according to Factchequeado, US’s largest Spanish-language fact-checking institution. According to BBC News, authorities believe these claims are intended to fuel worries among voters who have fled oppressive regimes in nations like Cuba and Venezuela.
In a popular movie, Harris and her running partner Tim Walz appeared to present for a picture in front of a signal for the far-left group, Revolutionary Communists of America. However, the picture was manipulated by followers of Donald Trump, known as the Dilley Meme Team. Despite revealing that the picture was false, it had amassed over 420, 000 opinions and was commonly shared among Spanish-speaking individuals.
” It’s everyday, this question: ‘ Is this individual a communist?'” said Evelyn Pérez-VerdÃa, a historical planner from southern Florida. She recalls hearing about the image on Miami’s La Nueva Poderosa television station in Spanish. The hosts continued to believe that” Kamala is a Marxist,” despite the station clarifying that the story was” not true.”
Samantha Barrios, a Venezuelan-American in Miami, accused right-leaning Hispanic press of terrifying refugees, saying,” the main reason that we left our places was to leave these governments”.
Some immigrant people complain that the Democrats do n’t adequately address their concerns about domestic political repression. Barrios did, however, warn against the use of false accusations about Harris to fuel these valid doubts. Pérez-VerdÃa criticised the Democrat plan for not taking these concerns seriously. ” Do n’t laugh off people’s fears. It’s definitely disrespectful”, she said.
The Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas ( DDIA ) has reported that notable right-wing figures have propagated a “fear of socialism” since 2020. Apparently, there has been an unprecedented rise in the level of AI-generated and photoshopped images relating to Harris.
On X, which received over 83.9 million views, Elon Musk altered Harris ‘ image of him wearing a purple dress with the socialist hammer and spear. Donald Trump, the former US president, further heightened the narrative in a presidential debate by calling Harris a” Marxist” and warning that she would make the country” Venezuela on steroids.” Following the debate, the term” Marxista” trended on social media, with Google searches for” Marxist” surging by 1000 % in just 17 hours.
