In the context of the global populism rise, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has evolved from being an internal barometer of the American right, an international platform.
This week, thousands of conservative politicians, activists and influencers gathered on the outskirts of Washington to attend the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC, in English), the main annual meeting of the US right.
The four -day event, organized by the American Conservative Union (ACU, in English) since 1974, has the participation of the US president, Donald Trump, and Vice President JD Vance, among other high profile speakers around the world.
Nicknamed the “Woodstock (” counterculture “) for conservatives”, CPAC was at the time the reference event for conservative Republicans and presidential applicants, being their symbolic presidential survey a barometer of the base support. However, Trump's political rise in recent years has transformed it into a platform for populism.
Promoted by the rise of populist movements globally, the conference has ventured abroad during the last decade. He launched his first international conference in Japan in 2017, expanded to Australia, Brazil and South Korea in 2019, and then added Hungary, Mexico and Israel in 2022. Argentina joined the group last year after the election of President Javier Milei.
According to CPAC, international conferences serve to “unite conservatives around the world, strengthen movement and challenge globalism.” They are also used for public dissemination, recruitment and mobilization, according to a recent CPAC study conducted by Grant A. Silverman, research assistant at George Washington University in the US capital.
The growing international projection of CPAC reflects a recent rise of extreme right -wing populism worldwide. Last year's foreign speakers included Presidents Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and Javier Milei of Argentina, as well as Prime Minister Víctor Orbán de Hungary.
Next, a look at some of the foreign speakers of this year's CPAC is presented and what they are saying:
Javier Milei, Argentine president
Milei, wielding a chainsaw, electrified the crowd of CPAC on Thursday when he shared the stage with billionaire Elon Musk, in charge of cutting Trump costs, and handed him his characteristic campaign accessory.
“This is the bureaucracy chainsaw,” Musk, general director of Tesla and Spacex shouted, stirring the tool.
As creator of the Government Efficiency Department (Doge, in English), Musk, who made his first appearance in CPAC, leads the huge cost cut efforts throughout the Trump administration government.
This is the third appearance of Milei at the Conservative Conference. The self -denominated “anarchocapitalist” was running in 2023 with the idea of reducing the size of the government in Argentina, often wielding a chainsaw on its rallies.
At the Washington conference last year, he promised to eliminate unnecessary government agencies, stating: “We will not give up until Argentina Grande again!”
Speaking in CPAC Argentina in December, Milei said that “new winds of freedom are sweeping the world” and called on their allies to fight “the leftists.”
“We must remain united, establishing cooperation channels worldwide,” he said before the crowd.
Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil
The former president of Brazil, of conservative ideology, is a regular participant of CPAC. After losing his attempt to re -election in 2022, his supporters assaulted federal government buildings in an alleged attempt to take power. After the prohibition of running until 2030, Bolsonaro faces charges to conspire in a coup d'etat.
His son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, organizes CPAC Brasil. At last year's conference at the Camboriú spa, the ex -president joined Milei and other right -wing politicians of Latin America to applaud the global boom of conservatism and expressed his hope for Trump's return to the presidency.
For his part, Milei used the platform to denounce socialism, stating that he restricts freedoms and encourages corruption.
Robert Fico, Prime Minister of Slovakia
Robert Fico makes his CPAC debut this year. Although he leads a left -wing populist party, he has generated controversy for his attacks against journalists, immigrants and LGBTQ+people.
In October, he described journalists as “damn bastards” and threatened to impose new media restrictions. Opposition of equal marriage, has described the adoption by homosexual couples of “perversion”.
During the conflict in Ukraine, Fico has opposed the European sanctions against Moscow and has reproduced messages related to those of Moscow, which has caused comparisons with the Prime Minister Pro-Kremlin of Hungary.
In May, he survived an attempt to murder by a gun opposed to his position against military assistance to Ukraine.
Mateusz Morawiecki, squeeze Minister of Poland
After talking at CPAC Hungary last year, Morawiecki made his first appearance in the United States this year. He served as Prime Minister from 2017 to 2023 and is currently an outstanding figure in the opposition law and justice.
Despite the strong support of his party to Ukraine, Morawiecki maintains close ties with Orbán de Hungary and Santiago Abascal de España, leader of the Vox Conservative Party. Abascal is one of the invited speakers on CPAC.
Immigration is a unifying theme for right -wing populists in Europe. At the Hungary Conference last year, Morawiecki called orbán his friend and attributed to his energetic response to the 2015 European migration crisis the prevention of “chaos” in the continent.
Liz Truss, squeeze British minister
The former leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister made her second consecutive appearance on CPAC this Wednesday. Qualifying Great Britain as “failed state” governed by a socialist government, called on a magic movement (“Make America Great Again” or “Let's make the United States big again”, in Spanish) Trump style to save her.
“We want a Trump revolution in Britain,” he said before applause, praising Trump's second presidency as “the Golden Age of America.”
He blamed the decline of Britain to bureaucrats not chosen and urged the dismantling of the “deep state”, a recurring theme among the conference attendees.
“We want Elon's army by examining the British deep state,” said Truss.
Truss only served 49 days as Prime Minister and lost her seat in Parliament last year.