Migrants "can be decisive" in elections, expert says
PAMPLONA. The American political advisor César Martínez has stressed in Pamplona, during a workshop at the University of Navarra, his impression that immigrants "could be decisive in future elections in Spain".
During this workshop on Creating and Communicating Political Messages, the expert highlighted the importance of people seeking opportunities in other countries: "Barack Obama is the son of an immigrant and so is Nicolas Sarcozy.
Why shouldn't a child of immigrants be able to run for Spanish Prime Minister in a few years' time", he said.
Likewise, as the University reported in a communiqué, the political consultant predicted that "citizen candidacies in Spain could become established in the next municipal elections".
César Martínez explained that voters need "the closeness of their candidates" and added that "although it seems that the political blocs in Spain are strongly structured, we should not rule out possible citizen candidacies because, at the end of the day, they know the social realities first hand and are the ones who are most enthusiastic".
The expert advocated research on the electorate in order to enact proposals that have a real popular interest: "At the end of the day, it is the voter who calls the shots in an election, so it is essential to know what he or she wants".
"Speaking close to the citizen is a key factor for success," he said, expressing his conviction that "all proposals, however complex and serious they may be, must be conveyed in a language that is close to the citizen and simple".
As an example, he said that Barack Obama "knew how to get his campaign message across very well, but the same has not happened with health care reform".
César Martínez Gomáriz has been dedicated to communication, political marketing and traditional marketing for 25 years. He was a member of the creative team and advertising director for President George W. Bush's 2000 Hispanic campaign, as well as a member of the Hispanic electorate communications strategy team for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign, and creative director for the 2008 McCain-Palin Hispanic area.
He has also prepared dozens of candidates, public officials, entrepreneurs and NGO managers for the media in Mexico, Latin America and Spain.
Currently, he is president of MAS Consulting Group, a firm that provides image and communication advice to various companies, candidates, governments and NGOs in the USA, Spain and Mexico.
How did Hispanic voters impact the US Election results 2020?
With a record 32 million eligible voters this year in the United States, Latinos have become the largest minority voting group in the country for the first time. The Hispanic community indeed played an essential role in the last US Election, according to a panel of Latino experts in a webinar hosted by the Observatory on US-Hispanic Politics, one of five observatories under the aegis of the IE School of Global and Public Affairs' Transatlantic Initiative.
This online session, held the same day that the Electoral College confirmed Joe Biden's presidential victory and the COVID19 vaccination campaign began in the US, was co-hosted with The Hispanic Council, an independent think-tank working to strengthen cultural ties between the United States and Spain.
Daniel Ureña, president of The Hispanic Council and Chair of the Observatory on US-Hispanic Politics, opened this passionate and intense debate with Luis Gutiérrez, Former member of Congress (1993 to 2018), Art Estopinan, President of The Estopinan Group, and César Martínez, Political Consultant and President of MAS Consulting USA. It was moderated by Vanessa Jaklitsch, a Spanish correspondent in Washington D.C.
"Hispanic mobilization has been key once again in this election," said Luis Gutierrez, highlighting that Arizona was won thanks to Hispanic voters. He underlined that Latinos are not monolithic, but a very diverse community depending on their perspectives and where they come from. Gutierrez disagreed with the idea that Latinos were a sleeping giant until now. "They have always been a giant."
win the Hispanic vote in States like Florida and Texas and pointed out that in his opinion, both parties won't take the Latino vote for granted ever again.
Mr. Martinez told the audience about his first-hand experience in the US 2020 Election and the strategies used in the Lincoln Project, a nationwide movement of Republicans with the mission to defeat Donald Trump and Trumpism, "We have been working for the empowerment of Latinos," he said. "They need to participate not only in presidential elections but also in regional and local elections. The more they participate, the more power they will have.
"15 percent of the working population in the USA is Latino. It is very important that we empower them" he added. "Let's make Latinos part of the solution."
Art Estopinan, President of The Estopinan Group, a government affairs and advocacy firm that provides consulting and advocacy for clients before Federal and state governments on a variety of policy matters, said that many Hispanic communities have mobilized in favor of Trump, such as the Cuban and Venezuelan communities, and have been key in states such as Florida. He also highlighted that Trump had better results among Hispanics than in 2016, largely because of economic policies that had improved the standard of living of Hispanics.
"The reality is that the Latino Community has supported Trump everywhere in the country. They have experienced the best and biggest economic boom in recent history and less employment in their communities" he continued.
On the other hand, Estopinian insisted that the American people have "legitimate concerns" that this election "was stolen" and compared the situation with the one experienced in Bolivia with Evo Morales. "History will determine if it was an election against Donald Trump" (a kind of referendum) he concluded.
Vanessa Jaklitsch highlighted two issues that have been fundamental for the Hispanic voters this year: the pandemic and the economy.
In fact, Latinos are one of the most affected communities due to COVID19, said César Martínez, who believes that COVID19 is something that made Latinos vote the way they did. If he hadn't politicized the pandemic, I think he could have been re-elected.
Gutierrez went further and said that Latinos are "5 times more likely to be infected and die because of COVID19 than a white person" and accused President Trump of mishandling COVID. "The US is the most dangerous country in the world when it comes to this pandemic. We have over 20% of the infections and deaths. We cannot be proud of this."
Estopinian ended by insisting on the need to unify a divided country and expressed his wish that the Biden Administration would be able to bring America together.
"We don't need any more division, socialist ideas don't work. Look at Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua," he said. "The US needs more education and private sector initiatives, more innovation, technology, engineering, mathematics. If we want to continue to be the greatest country in the world, we have to focus on this. With politics, this country will not move forward.
VI Hispanic Heritage Forum: the Hispanic vote
Next Thursday October 8th at 19:00 (Madrid) the VI Forum of the Hispanic Heritage will take place . Within Hispanic Heritage Month, The Hispanic Council will organize the sixth edition of this event in collaboration with Casa de América.
On November 3, the United States will hold its presidential elections and the Hispanic community is called upon to play a major role in this new electoral process. Therefore, in the event on November 8 we will analyze in detail the main aspects of this group of voters and what role they can play in the final result of the election.
They will participate:
Roberto Izurieta, professor at The George Washington University and expert on electoral campaigns.
César Martínez, president of MAS Consulting USA. He has worked in the last six U.S. presidential campaigns in mobilizing the Hispanic vote.
Octavio Hinojosa , director and founder of Plus Ultra Strategies, member of The Hispanic Council's Advisory Council.
Daniel Ureña, president of The Hispanic Council.
When:
Thursday, October 8, 7:00 pm (Madrid) / 1:00 pm (Washington, D.C.) / 10:00 am (Los Angeles).
How:
The event will be broadcast openly on Casa de America's Youtube channel.
How the anti-Trump Republicans defeated Donald Trump
The Lincoln Project was formed from members of the Republican Party, who came together to prevent Donald Trump from being re-elected president of the United States. Their work on this campaign was intense political communication and focused on Hispanic and non-Hispanic Republicans. Two of its members explained to Plan V how their successful campaign was in key states where they turned the tables on Joe Biden and why Trump did not represent the values of the Republican Party.
We've never endorsed a Democratic candidate for president. But Trump must be defeated. That was the central and founding message of The Lincoln Project, in an opinion piece in The New York Times, December 17, 2019. They were four founders, prominent Republicans who, paradoxically, sent messages to their country's Republican voters not to vote for President Donald Trump's re-election.
On their website they explained their reasons: "We do not undertake this task lightly or out of ideological preference. There are still many political differences with the national Democrats. But the priority for all patriotic Americans must be a shared loyalty to the Constitution and a commitment to defeat candidates who have abandoned their constitutional oaths, regardless of party. Choosing Democrats who support the Constitution over Republicans who do not is a worthy effort.
His messages, especially on social networking sites, hit Trump and his supporters very hard. They believe that Trump and Trumpism are a danger to America's democracy. Plan V spoke with two Hispanic spokespersons for the organization. Cesar Martinez, political consultant, director of MAS Consulting and member of The LincolnProject, from Los Angeles, California. César is an expert in political communication and participated actively in this electoral campaign and has been a political consultant for many campaigns in the United States. Marco Antonio Valera, from Hawaii, General Director for the West Coast of The LincolnProject, also participated in this dialogue.
It is paradoxical that there are Republicans who are against the re-election of an incumbent Republican president and even call for a vote for his Democratic rival. How do you explain that?
MARCO VALERA: The answer is simple. When the Republican presidential primaries took place in 2016, there were 17 pre-candidates. It showed the variety of what it means to be a Republican: people who are very right-wing, people who are more centrist.... What happened there is that the Republican vote was so divided and the extreme right stayed with Donald Trump. So people from the centre and centre-right were fighting for the same votes and Trump was very comfortable with his votes from the ultra-right. Many Republicans were not and were not in favour of Donald Trump before he dominated. Because he created a division within the Republicans themselves; then there were many, like me, who at no time agreed with or supported Trump. But he became the nominee, he became president and many Republicans were left with that surprise: that the party chose such a man. We continue to support the party, but during the four years of Trump's presidency the party began to change and a political system began to be created in which a candidate creates a party, not the other way around. Historically, presidential candidates in the United States are part of a party. And Trump says he is a Republican, but the vast majority of those who did not support him to this day are convinced that he was never a Republican. In fact, all his life he was a Democrat, and his own children could not even vote for him in the primaries, because they were Democrats.
CESAR MARTÍNEZ: I worked in the 2000 presidential election with President Bush, then in the re-election campaign, then with John McCain, then with Mitt Romney and in 2016 with Jeff Bush. The latter was an affable person, he was looking for inclusion and for Latinos to participate in the process and when we had strategic meetings we saw that the opponents to beat in those Republican primaries were Romney, in the long term, or maybe a Ted Cruz. But Donald Trump wasn't seen as having a chance, and then he started to insult and insult and make his style work, and people wanted red meat, and the ultra-conservative wing took over, and they were going to go for Ted Cruz. And you had that dilemma with a candidate who wasn't really a Republican, he was buying a party; from there we saw that "Trumpism" was coming. The Republican party was not the solid party, it was the party of one person. Why is that so strong? Because the national Republican platform decision that was made this year was: whatever President Trump says. There was literally no platform and the party repeated whatever the president said. And that is dangerous for a democracy as old and as solid as the United States: to see a party cease to have a platform of its own and become nothing more than the platform of one person and his family.
When we talk about Trump or Trumpism, what are we talking about?
MARCO: There are certain values and principles that are very common in the Republican Party. For example, that the U.S. has a strategic position in the world economically, militarily and politically. What we've seen with President Trump, is that he's reducing the military. He's increasing the national debt, something the Republicans have never done. Trump has done the opposite of what the Republicans are doing. Another example: the Republican Party has had a religious slant, but he doesn't even believe in God. He represents a party that focuses only on him in his family. When you talk about Trumpism, you are talking about a non-Republican way of governing, because it does not represent the party.
How did the work of The Lincoln Project fall to America? Did the Republicans see it as a betrayal?
MARCO: I'm 33 years old and I joined the Republican Party at 18. I'm 15 years old as a Republican, but we are against Trump and the people who support him because we see that he is destroying the party. If Trump continues, the party will no longer exist. This is not only a rejection of Donald Trump as a person and as a political failure, but a rejection of what he has done to the party.
How did the game get hit?
MARCO: It's very easy: 66% of new voters supported Joe Biden. In other words, the youth of the United States are already convinced that they have no space within the Republican Party. This is not going to be felt tomorrow, but for an entire generation.
CESAR: The main function of the parties is to have members and to win elections. And if you have a party that clings to one person, it's going to stop attracting young people, new voters, and it's going to lose the function of what a party is. The function of a party is not to carry out the will of one person.
if you have a party that clings to one person it will stop attracting young people, new voters and it will lose the function of what a party is. The function of a party is not to fulfill the will of one person.
MARCO: I think, very black and white, that what President Trum is saying is that he doesn't want the votes that are against him to be counted. Because his message is not even clear: in certain states he wants the votes to continue to be counted, like in Arizona, but he doesn't want them to be counted in Pennsylvania, where he's losing. What Trump wants, at the end of the day, is for the result to look like he won the election. But neither he nor his team have a clear message to combat the notion that he lost. I don't agree with these court cases that the president's group has brought. That is damaging democracy, damaging institutions that have been serving democracy in the United States for 250 years.
CÉSAR: And what Trump does doesn't help. The tradition is that if you've already lost, you've lost, and we're going forward. But these actions can do a great deal of damage to democratic institutions. Even with the vote recounts that Trump wants to force, it's no longer enough. If it were the problem in one state, like Florida in 2000, it could be, but he has defeats in several states. He may have a technical right in some of them, but he can no longer change the outcome.
MARCO: And maybe they will find a dozen cases where there have been some irregularities, but we are talking about Trum losing in these states by thousands of votes, not by a dozen.
What is a legal vote and an illegal vote?
MARCO: President Trump believes that any vote that has not been counted on election day is illegal. And that's not true. Because a lot of votes come in after the election from Americans living abroad, who are in the military, and they send them in the mail. Another thing is that many states by their local legislatures voted against counting the votes before election day and voted in favor of counting them after those that were recorded on election day. But those votes were legally entered days or weeks before election day. All the votes that were submitted before election day I think are legal. That they are not counted on the same day is another matter, but that does not mean that they are illegal. The historical laws of the United States were used for this, but Trump believes that because they were not counted on election day they are illegal, and that is not true.
Why did Trump lose?
CÉSAR: This was a referendum on Donald Trump. Within the grain of sand that The Lincoln Project put, in the Hispanic aspect, we made certain messages in which we reminded the readers of certain things. One of them, the bad handling of the pandemic. We did some focus groups about it. Marco and I were with a focus group of Venezuelans in Florida and they told us: we may not agree on political issues, but what we agree on is the poor management of Covid-19. We are the first country in the world to die. That's an issue that Trump politicized. In this country there are states where if you wear a mask they tell you you are a socialist. To that degree he became polarized. And we also did a lot of messages to remind people that this is a potential dictator, literally linking him to the Chavez, the Maduros, the Castros, the Ortega, because they are the ones who want to end the institutions and stay in power, who use public force to hurt people, who put their family in public office. That is what Donald Trump wanted, that his sons, his daughter be the successors and run the country as if it were their own company. And the insults, moreover, to our Hispanic community is something that was strategically used to seek Donald Trump's non-reelection.
MARCO: Add to that the relationship he has with the North Korean dictator and Putin. The United States has been against these people; they have been enemies of the United States. And this man takes Putin's word over the word of our own intelligence services as true; something that has never been seen before.
What is left for the Republican Party now, what is its challenge?
MARCO: I think the Democrats were expecting an arrow to the heart of the Republican Party and there wasn't one. Most likely, the Republicans can keep the Senate, and they didn't lose a single member of the House of Representatives. But Joe Biden did win and he is going to be the president of the United States. That is exactly what The Lincoln Project did: it focused on those who were supporting President Trump and only on the president. You can say that The Lincoln Project was very effective because the vast majority of Republicans stayed, but the number one pseudo-Republican left.
CÉSAR: This is precisely the level of sophistication, of targeting that we apply. The Latino voter in the United States is made up of almost twenty nationalities. It is not the same for the Mexican voter in Arizona, who had a very important participation, as talking to a Cuban American voter in Florida, or a Puerto Rican voter in Florida in the Orlando and Tampa area; because with the same Puerto Ricans we did specific targeting so that they would realize how Donald Trump had such a bad handling of Hurricane Maria. To the Cuban Americans to remind them that Trump could be a potential Castro; to the Venezuelans about Chavez, to tell them that we could be electing our own dictator. In Latin America, candidates, parties, can learn from this kind of specific level of targeting. Because sometimes they want to reach everybody and they don't reach anybody. You have to find where the niches are, and The Lincoln Project looked for that niche of Republicans, conservative people to whom we said: not this time, this time erase that little piece that is called Trump, you can continue with your values, your way of thinking, the candidates that you like in Congress, but not Trump, because of what Trumpism represents.
MARCO: And in light of the results, it was proven that this was effective.
Where precisely can successes be attributed?
MARCO: The most successful outcome was to have President Trump out. But we also saw that it was necessary to fulfill a goal that we had set ourselves: to convince the 3% to 5% of Republicans to vote against President Trump, a Republican candidate. And those margins were exactly what Vice President Biden won, in states like Arizona, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, states in which Trump won four years ago with the same margins. What we did is we turned them upside down, and we succeeded.
CESAR: It's very simple, you don't have to make it so specific. You had to tell people that the message was always against Donald Trump and ask people if he represented their values. There was a video whose message was Reagan, Bush, Obama, Clinton, George W. Bush... all the presidents who had spoken well of Latinos. And all of this was in reference to Hispanic Heritage Month, which is between September 15 and October 12. That's where we focused on and showed the messages saying that there were Republican presidents who recognised the Hispanic contribution to this country until Trump came along and did the opposite. Now, President Trump also invested good efforts for Latinos in Florida, in Texas, but we made efforts in Arizona, which was key. In the messages people can discern, realise. We didn't give them messages on how to vote, but messages to make them aware and make them decide who to vote for.
How divided is America?
MARCO: I think it's going to be a little bit divided. But with this election for Biden, I've seen Republicans say they feel better and believe they're going to start healing the wounds in America.
More than voting for Biden, people wanted Trump gone?
Exactly.
Did President Bush congratulate Biden?
MARCO: Yes, that has always been the tradition. There are even very few occasions in which an ex-president gets involved in a campaign. The tradition has been that they stay out of it. But it was interesting that President Obama got involved in the end. I guess because Joe Biden asked him to, and I think Obama realized that the campaign was getting complicated.
MAS Consulting celebrates fifteen years of activity
The firm MAS Consulting is celebrating its 15th anniversary and has begun to celebrate it with a summary video in which it reviews some of the achievements it has made in these three decades. In this way, they wanted to highlight the work done on behalf of governments and companies to help win elections, make them communicate better, build and protect their reputation, strengthen their public relations or defend their interests in various sectors. All this, without forgetting the didactic part, since during this time they have helped various public officials, managers and spokespersons from around the world to be trained to communicate better.
In addition, they wanted to highlight the internationality of the project, which was born from the union of three countries: Mexico, United States and Spain. It should be noted that it currently works in the North American country, in Latin America and Europe, through a network of offices (own, affiliated and collaborators) with which it collaborates in various international markets such as: Washington, D.C., Madrid, Brussels, London, Rome, Lisbon, Mexico City or Buenos Aires, among others.
Its partner and General Manager, Daniel Ureña, also wanted to celebrate this milestone, which he started together with César Martínez and Rafael Reyes.
Expands its office in Madrid
It should be noted that, despite being celebrating, the goal is none other than to continue growing. For this reason, the firm aims in the coming weeks to expand the team it has in the Madrid office with a very specific profile: a degree in Communication or Social Sciences with additional training in Communication, more than seven years of experience managing projects and clients in communication or public affairs consultancies, and a very high level of English.
Those interested should send their curriculum vitae to info@masconsulting.es.
The United States pauses to say its final goodbye to President George H.W. Bush
Washington, Dec 5 (VOA) - U.S. President Donald Trump and four former presidents will gather Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral to pay a final tribute to George Herbert Walker Bush, the nation's 41st president, who died last Friday at age 94.
Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama will join current Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump for Bush's funeral services at the Washington National Cathedral, where they will hear a speech by George W. Bush, son of the late president and the 43rd president of the United States.
Also speaking at the state funeral will be former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson and historian Jon Meacham, Bush's biographer. Dignitaries attending include Britain's Prince Charles, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Lech Walesa, former president of Poland.
Wednesday's services will begin when a motorcade carries the former president's flag-draped casket to the cathedral from the U.S. Capitol, where he had been lying in state since Monday for the public to pay their respects.
La Voz de América interviewed César Martínez, president of Mas Consulting, analyst and political consultant, to discuss President George H.W. Bush's legacy for the country and the world, and especially his relationship with Hispanics. Bush's legacy for the country and the world, and especially his relationship with Hispanics.
Among those who came to the Capitol was a visitor from Bush's home state of Texas: "Well, I'm from Texas, and he was obviously from Texas, too. Certainly well respected. And he did a lot of good things over the years."
A touching moment during the public wake Tuesday came when former Sen. Bob Dole, 95, was helped out of his wheelchair and greeted his fellow Republican and World War II veteran.
After the funeral, former President Bush's casket will be taken to Andrews Air Force Base and flown to Houston, Texas, for a private service Thursday, after which he will be buried in his presidential library and museum at Texas A&M University in College Station, next to his wife, Barbara, who died in April, and his daughter Robin, who died of leukemia in 1953 when she was just 3 years old.
MFV & National Latino Leaders Tell Trump: Latino Voters Will Stop "Trumpadas" with Their Votes
MFV & National Latino Leaders Tell Trump: Latino Voters Will Stop His Votes their votes to stop his "Trumpadas"
The multi-state announcement of #VoteNoTrumpadas is intended to mobilize Latino voters by dramatizing Trump's attacks on the Latino community.
Audio recording of the press conference: "Mi Familia Vota Contra las Trumpadas".
WASHINGTON, DC - Mi Familia Vota and Latino community leaders on Thursday launched the #VoteNoTrumpadas " media campaign, which features a dramatization of President Trump's attacks on the Latino community, which have been repeated by his supporters, including members of Congress. "Trumpada" is a play on the Spanish word "trompada," which means slap or punch in the face.
The cable TV ad premiered during CNN's "Fox and Friends," "Morning Joe" and "New Day," and will continue to air nationally, in key Latino markets on Spanish and English-language television and radio, and will also be promoted on social media. The ad conveys Trump's own words attacking Latino and immigrant communities and how they have been perceived by Latino voters. But the message is to stop the attacks by voting on Nov. 6.
"By reminding Latino voters what Trump has said about us, our families, our friends and co-workers, we are actually saying, YA NO MORE. We must stop him, not with hate speech or violence, but with our votes," said Ben Monterroso, executive director of Mi Familia Vota, during a press call with Latino leaders to launch the "#VoteNoTrumpadas" ad.
Joining the press conference were: ad creator and Hispanic media consultant Cesar Martinez, president of Mas Consulting, who has worked on five GOP presidential campaigns; Angelica Salas, board chair of CHIRLA Action Fund; and Blanca Flor Guillen-Woods, senior analyst and evaluation specialist at Latino Decisions.
"Trump's policies have hurt us every day," Salas said. "His immigration rhetoric is shameful and disrespectful, but his policies are cruel and merciless. Children are detained in cages and prisons, parents are deported, even after living here for decades, and youth and seniors are targeted by stripping them of DACA or TPS protections. Mothers mourn and children cry for justice. Trump responds with only more attacks," Salas added.
"Of course no one was hurt during the production of this ad; we simulated the slaps in slow motion. But millions of Hispanic Americans have been truly hurt by Trump's Trumpadas. This ad reflects how we feel about his Trumpadas and his actions, but not only that, we also show that we have the solution to stop him: by voting. Simply put, we say, '#VoteNoTrumpadas,'" Martinez said.
The "Trumpadas" ad is grounded in deep cultural references and was tested by Latino Decisions, a national research and polling firm, in focus groups to gauge audience reactions. The goal of the ad is to motivate Latinos to vote.
"Our evidence indicates that the most powerful aspects of the ad are seeing Latinos take control by stopping Trump's attacks and calling for action, getting out and voting. After watching the ad, 80 percent of participants said they would vote this year," said Guillen-Woods of Latino Decisions.
César Martínez and Daniel Ureña, among the hundred most influential political professionals
César Martínez, founder of MAS Consulting Group, and Daniel Ureña, Partner & Managing Director of MAS Consulting Group, have been recognized among the hundred most influential political professionals of 2017 by the specialized magazine 'Washington COMPOL'.
The Editorial Board of the publication recognizes the work of César Martínez, whose experience spans the last five presidential elections in the United States, and Daniel Ureña, who is President of the Association of Political Communication of Spain (ACOP), and includes them in "The hundred most influential political professionals of the year".
These awards will be presented on August 31 at the Napolitan Victory Awards in Washington, D.C., organized by The Washington Academy of Political Arts and Sciences.
César Martínez has received numerous awards including Clios, EFFIE, Telly, Mobius and Addy, and was named 'Creative All Stars' by Adweek. In addition, he has been a guest speaker at many forums, including George Washington University, Harvard University, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca and Tec de Monterrey (Mexico).
For his part, Daniel Ureña received the Victory Award in 2012, was the first Spanish consultant to receive the Rising Star Award fromCampaigns & Electionsmagazine, which for over 30 years has been rewarding the political consultants with the greatest international projection, and has been awarded several Pollie Awards by the American Association of Political Consultants. In 2016, the publication 'The Holmes Report' included him in the ranking 'Innovator 25', which selects the most innovative leaders in the field of communication, reputation and influence in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
MAS Consulting Group is an international public affairs and communications consulting firm that works with corporate, political and institutional clients. Founded in 2003 in the United States, the company operates globally, providing strategy and political intelligence, government relations, strategic communications and senior management training.
Expert: "I don't think there will be mass deportations".
César Martínez, an expert on political issues, says that with a Republican majority in the government and Congress, now is the time to seek immigration reform, and for that civil organizations should approach the Republicans.
The workings of democracy in the United States have been put to the test this week, and one expert warns that its strength has seen it through a difficult time, though the challenge remains.
In an analysis of the post-electoral scenario in which the country finds itself, analyst and political advisor César Martínez affirmed in an interview with the Voice of America that an unprecedented campaign has to have an original ending.
"The former governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, said that you campaign with poetry and govern with prose, and now we are in the moment of prose. Protests are a right, and they are exercised by the protesters and the president-elect himself," Martinez says.
But the former are going through a moment of catharsis, while Donald Trump surprises us by tweeting again. Let's hope we have a President Trump and not a tweeting president," says the expert.
Martínez recalls as an example the case of Brexit in Great Britain and the surprise it meant for that country. "We presumed the movie we were going to see and the result was totally different, that's what we experienced this week in politics," says this political consultant.
On one of the most sensitive issues in this campaign and one that compromises the future of many, immigration, Martinez analyzes the prospects under a Republican-majority administration and Congress.
"I have my serious doubts that there will be a mass deportation, I think this is the time to push immigration treatment among Republicans, those are the votes that are missing," says Martinez.
"It is necessary to approach Paul Ryan and Republican political leaders to begin to address the issue and negotiate a path that does not necessarily have to be citizenship, it can be a residence or a temporary status that includes a work permit," Martinez said.
"There are precedents for dealing with this very difficult issue, one with President Reagan in the 1980s and President Bush in 2007," the expert emphasizes.
"What I do worry about is DACA because DREAMers are the best we have in the immigrant community, they are young people who have put all their efforts to get an education and contribute to the community and it would be unfair to abandon them," says Martinez.
At the same time, this expert, who heads the Mas Consulting Group, affirms his hope that there will be no mass deportations.
"I believe that we will not go to that extreme and that a way out will be found along the way, because there are many Americans who live with immigrants on a daily basis and consider their contribution to the country to be important," Martinez concludes.
President MAS Consulting Group
Aveteran of the last 4 U.S. presidential elections with a specialty in the Latino vote, he is one of the leading advertising and media consultants in the U.S. and Latin America, with over 25 years of experience in advertising, political marketing and news.
Cesar was Hispanic Creative Director/Producer for Bush-Cheney 2000, was a member of the Media and Strategy team for Bush-Cheney 2004, McCain 2008 and Romney-Ryan 2012. And he was a member of the Hispanic team for Jeb Bush 2016
César specializes in branding (both in terms of pulblicity and media character development).
He has prepared dozens of candidates in the U.S. and Latin America, including the last three presidents of Guatemala, for debates.
César has received numerous awards for his advertising work such as 2 Clio awards, 1 EFFIE award, Telly, Mobius and Addy. He was named "Creative All Star" by Adweek magazine. Cesar was a member of the production team of Noticiero Nacional Univision.
Member of the Center for Political Management since 2003, he has presented in forums and academic institutions in various parts of the world where he can be included: Harvard University, George Washington University, Universidad de Salamanca Spain, Tecnológico de Monterrey Mexico to name a few.