Hispanic Caucus disinformation series ‘Ya Tu Sabes’ tackles Jan. 6

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus campaign arm on Friday released two videos aimed at countering disinformation related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection among Hispanic audiences.

The videos produced by Bold PAC are part of its “Ya Tu Sabes” anti-disinformation series.

A six-minute English language video features Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Bold PAC’s chair, who was on the House floor as insurrectionists attempted to breach that chamber’s doors.

“Who is going to defend democracy right now? Who is going to actually make sure that we continue the great legacy of this country and don’t let them get away with the lies, with the pendejadas as I like to say, that a lot of [Republicans] are taking part in right now,” Gallego says in the video.

The launch of the video coincides with the last public hearing of the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot, which on Thursday explored former President Trump’s role in planning the attack, and voted to subpoena the former president.

The “Ya Tu Sabes” series was launched in August, featuring videos in English and Spanish to address growing concerns over disinformation targeting Latinos.

Disinformation on a range of topics, from vaccines to political conspiracy theories, has run rampant, particularly in Spanish-language social media posts, in part because fewer resources are available to monitor Spanish-language channels.

And in the videos, Gallego takes direct aim at fellow members of Congress, who he says are complicit in Jan. 6 disinformation.

“We have Latino Republican members of Congress that are basically supporting these terrorists that tried to overthrow our government,” said Gallego.

Gallego called out Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) and “a couple Latinas running in South Texas that are basically trying to make excuses for what happened on Jan. 6.”

Salazar, who was in Miami with COVID-19 on the day of the attack, has had a mixed record of 2020 election statements.

While she was among the few Republicans to vote in May of 2021 for a House commission to investigate the attacks, she voted against Trump’s impeachment over the attack and has also publicly stated — in Spanish — unproven claims of election fraud in Pennsylvania in 2020.

The Hill has reached out to Salazar for comment.

Gallego has reasons to single out Salazar, other than her apparently unfounded allegations of election fraud.

Bold PAC is supporting Salazar’s Democratic challenger, Annette Taddeo, who represents the best opportunity Florida Democrats have at flipping a House seat.

Bold PAC also released a shorter English-language video where the same narrator who interviews Gallego in the first video discusses the work of the House select committee on the Jan. 6 attacks.

“So far, the committee has uncovered a ton of evidence of wrongdoing, but mainly that Donald Trump was intimately involved in the campaign to overturn the election,” says the narrator.

The narrator offers resources to combat disinformation as in-video links and calls on viewers to share the videos and a shorter Spanish-language video with their Spanish-speaking peers.

The Spanish-language video features two separate narrators, who have hosted previous “Ya Tu Sabes” episodes, summarizing the longer videos. 

While the videos address common disinformation themes around the Jan. 6 attacks, their pitch is openly electoral — Bold PAC’s core mission is to elect more members to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

“It’s dangerous, in a sense now, that maybe it won’t be a physical attempt at overthrowing the government but they’re going to try to change the voting laws. They’re gonna try to change who counts the votes so that they can stop democracy. So we are in a very grave situation,” said Gallego. 

“And right now that’s what you should be really voting on. Who’s gonna defend democracy, who’s going to actually make sure that we continue this great legacy of this country. And don’t let them get away with the lies, with the pendejadas.”