Allies of George Soros are working on a takeover of Spanish-language radio stations. The $60 million deal to buy Radio Mambi and other Spanish-language stations must be approved by the FCC — a formality that many in Miami’s anti-Communist community want to forestall.
It’s not likely to succeed. The Latino Media Network (LMN) — a media start-up partly funded by George Soros affiliate Lakestar Finance — claims to be non-partisan and says it will not change the programming at Radio Mambi or any other station.
LMN co-founders Stephanie Valencia and Jess Morales Rocketto penned an op-ed in the Miami Herald, trying to tamp down the outrage at a former Hillary Clinton staffer and Obama administration official taking over the voice of anti-Communism in this hemisphere.
We wholeheartedly believe in free speech and free expression. We believe in journalistic integrity. And our goal will always be to run a successful business. We will be focused on how to continue to build our audience and make the stations profitable.
The deal with TelevisaUnivision to purchase the stations was a business transaction. Our primary business objective was keeping Spanish-language stations under Hispanic ownership. We own 100% of the company — and we are proud that, as Latinas, we were able to raise capital that has been long denied to people like us. We are backed by a group of prominent Latinos from different backgrounds who support LMN as investors and advisors and, more important, as local residents. This coalition includes award-winning journalist Maria Elena Salinas, who worked as co-anchor of Univision for 30 years; Al Cardenas, businessman and former president of the Republican Party of Florida; and Eduardo Padrón, former president of Miami Dade College. We look to its guidance as we move forward.
Pay no attention to that “advisory board.” The “coalition” is a front organization to grant LMN respectability as a non-partisan news outlet.
Recommended: Soros Faces Latino Resistance
The real power is with the owners and their backers. The fact that those backers include a Soros front — Lakestar Finance — has Florida Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, up in arms. The Florida governor released a hard-hitting ad warning about the influence of Soros that will be felt through his straw-man ownership of Spanish-language radio stations.
The Soros-funded radical Left is running a scheme to manipulate local media in Florida to push their Marxist agenda on voters.
In Florida, we reject the professional Left & their attempt to infiltrate our state & will always stand for truth and freedom.https://t.co/OeLbSDpJVh
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantisFL) June 6, 2022
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is warning Miami residents that Spanish language radio stations bought by a George Soros-backed group plan to spread “disinformation” over their airwaves.
DeSantis released several radio spots in Spanish to alert residents to the “purchase of Hispanic radio stations meant to disinform the community.”
“Warning!” the ad states in Spanish. “The left is taking control of our local media.”
The GOP has a massive interest in assuring there is no loss of support among Cubans in Florida. Radio Mambi is one of the only Spanish-language media outlets that doesn’t try to obscure the truth about Communism in places like Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua.
Republicans have long viewed Miami’s Cuban population as a reliable repository of votes and want to further expand their appeal with Hispanics.
“They are coming with their ideological agenda,” the DeSantis spot states. “Soros and his minions know what this community represents in the fight against socialism in America. This community will not get confused. Under Governor Ron DeSantis’s leadership Florida is standing against the corporate media and leftist disinformation.”
It’s not likely that Radio Mambi will change its programming significantly — at least, not for a while. When the controversy has died down, we might expect incremental changes in focus and coverage. Eventually, the boiling frog scenario will be realized and everyone will have forgotten what all the yelling was about. After all, Communism ain’t so bad — once you get used to it.
