AOC, Dem Lawmaker’s Trip To Latin America To Meet Left-Wing Leaders Was Funded By A Soros Organization

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democratic lawmakers recent diplomatic trip to South America was funded by George Soros’s philanthropy group, according to financial disclosures.

The lawmakers aimed to “strengthen diplomatic relations” with leaders from Latin America during the trip that some conservatives called a “socialist sympathy tour,” the Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday. George Soros’s Foundation to Promote Open Society, which has historically backed left-wing groups and initiatives, funded the lawmaker’s trip through a grant to left-wing think tank Center for Economic and Policy Research, who organized the trip.

Ocasio-Cortez, alongside other Democrat lawmakers like Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost and Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, met with Chilean president Gabriel Boric, Columbian president Gustavo Petro and the advisors of Brazilian president Luiz Lula, according to the Free Beacon. All three left-wing Latin American leaders were elected in 2022, and Lulu is an ally of the Open Society, having met with Soros’ son, Alex, earlier this year to discuss the organization’s work in Brazil.

Among the topics discussed on the trip were climate change initiatives, racial inequality and foreign policy issues, according to the Free Beacon. Ocasio- Cortez said prior to the trip that the United States needed to apologize “for the harms we’ve committed through intervention and extractive policies [in Latin America] and chart a new course based on trust and mutual respect,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research received a grant from Soros’ organization to cover the cost of the trip. Open Society backed the trip as part of the organization’s “mission to foster greater interest from members of Congress in US-Latin America relations,” according to a disclosure submitted by one of the lawmaker’s aides present on the trip. Frost’s disclosure alone revealed his trip cost $6,600 for travel, food and lodging. The disclosures of the other four lawmakers present on the trip have yet to be released.

Soros’ Open Society regularly supports and funds left-wing initiatives, including a “nonpartisan” voter registration group that helped Democrats win elections in 2020 by targeting certain demographic groups and hiring left-wing consultants. Open Society has also funded a number of political left-wing campaigns for district attorney, gubernatorial and congressional races.

A number of conservatives criticized the leftist lawmakers trip as an attempt to create a global leftist movement, according to the Free Beacon. One columnist at The Wall Street Journal described the trip as a “socialist sympathy tour,” and feared the trip might inspire the lawmakers to bring Brazil’s radical censorship ideas back to the U.S.

Boric has a history of anti-Semitic rhetoric and has accused Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinians, according to the Free Beacon. Lula and Petro have fallen under scrutiny for their ties to China, Venezuela and Russia.

Republican Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar said that “Petro’s corrupt leftist policies have created a bleak future for Colombia,” during a July congressional hearing.

“Over the last 30 years, Colombia has made incredible progress. A new era of prosperity, democracy, and security swept over this critical country. Now, it looks like that will be all erased, and there is one man to blame: President Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego,” Salazar said, according to her website.

Ocasio-Cortez, Frost, Castro, the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Open Society did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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