Promoted by the PAN, International Right-Wing Forum to Be Held in Mexico City

ByAlonso Urrutia

This article by Alonso Urrutia originally appeared in the September 26, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Once again, organizations of right-wing Latin American groups gathered in the so-called Foro América Libre will meet in Mexico next September 30 in the nation’s capital, at a gathering sponsored by, among others, former president Felipe Calderón and the National Action Party.

According to the call, it will promote what, from the perspective of this ideological spectrum, is the strengthening of the democratic governments of the region.

In a video of the former PAN president circulated on the Foro América Libre’s social media, he calls for the participation of those he considers “the wills committed to freedom, to the defense and strengthening of democratic regimes with the leadership of them. With the freedom of our countries, in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and in Mexico, in our Latin America.”

Besides the former Mexican president, another of the figures who will take part in this gathering is the former secretary general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro.

The Foro América Libre is a space in which activists from 70 conservative organizations and political foundations from 25 countries in the region take part. The meeting in Mexico will follow up on a recent gathering held last August in Montevideo, Uruguay.

According to its own statement of objectives, “The Foro América Libre aspires to be a meeting point and reference for the liberal-democratic center in the Americas. It constitutes an umbrella under which initiatives, parties, organizations, and individuals come together and coordinate their democratic commitment.”

The Foro América Libre creates a clearly visible media counterweight to the authoritarian left-wing alliance of the São Paulo Forum, the Puebla Group, and the authoritarian regimes associated with them, inside and outside America.

Foro América Libre, statement of objectives

This organization, according to the conservative Konrad Adenauer Foundation (which backs the project), is “a space for action with a long-term perspective supported by more than 70 organizations, NGOs, think tanks, and political foundations from more than 25 countries. Its foundation is a clear joint commitment to freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and the market economy.”

Mexico has hosted the gathering on several occasions since the first international forum was held, three years ago, in October 2023. Among the activities this body claims in its documents is “organizing joint activities, such as, for example, the call by more than 500 parliamentarians for solidarity with the democratic opposition in Venezuela in August 2024, or the publication of the book La galaxia rosa on the activities of the authoritarian left in Latin America.”