**UPDATE—Salazar Won't Debate Taddeo, and Taddeo Won't Condemn Brazil's Leftist new President

With one week until the 2022 midterm elections come to a head, the last remaining Democratic government in South America, Brazil, has voted in a Leftist leader, a move that is influencing American politics. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R), the incumbent congresswoman in Florida’s 27^th congressional district, called out her Democratic opponent State Senator Annette Taddeo for not openly denouncing Lula da Silva’s election night victory.

In a Tweet, Rep. Salazar (pictured) listed a group of American Democratic Socialist lawmakers, President Joe Biden, Cuba’s Communist Leader Miguel Diaz-Canel, Colombia’s newly-elected Socialist President Gustavo Petro, and Socialist Dictators Nicolas Maduro and Daniel Ortega, for coming out to congratulate Lula for his victory against Conservative President Jairo Bolsonaro.

“These people have congratulated Lula, the corrupt new socialist president of Brazil: - Biden - AOC - Ilhan Omar - Bernie Sanders - AMLO - Petro - Díaz-Canel - Maduro - Ortega The democratic candidate for D27: Does she congratulate or denounce? Silence implies agreement,” stated Salazar

 

Salazar’s statement was sent out in both English and Spanish.

Moments after Salazar made her comment. Sen. Taddeo, who is Colombian-American, fired back at Salazar, questioning her for not accepting her debate challenge.

Taddeo, who has not condemned Lulo’s presidency,  accuses Salazar of cowering down and not voicing her opposition to Maduro and Castro, and even getting emotional about Che Guevara, implying that her silence implies her support for them.

Taddeo, who has also been critical of Gov. Ron DeSantis,  continued, challenging Salazar to a debate, demanding that she either accept the challenge or shut up, adding that Salazar is hiding from her record.

The Floridian has reached out to Taddeo and her campaign directly for comment, asking them if she condemns Lulo, but we have not heard back.

**UPDATE— One of  Taddeo's campaign staffer spoke to The Floridian and expressed Taddeo's views on the election, saying that the senator will keep a close eye on President Lula's "action" just like she will do with Colombia's President Petro, who she recently criticized for his move to meet with Dictator Maduro in Venezuela.

“Annette Taddeo has always been consistent on the issue of democracy in Latin America. In this case, the people of Brazil spoke and held a free and fair election, and the will of the Brazilian people must be respected. However, Annette will monitor Brazil closely like she’s doing in Colombia with Petro to ensure there’s no democratic backsliding under Lula that can jeopardize our regional security and stability," said the staffer before accusing Salazar of believe the "Big Lie" that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. “But the question for María Elvira is this. Are our allies in Germany, England, Canada, and France all socialist or communist for congratulating the person who won a free and fair election? I know Maria Elvira doesn’t understand how democracies work given she continues to sow distrust in our own democracy and continues to believe Trump’s big lie. However, free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power are a cornerstone of any functioning democracy.”

Taddeo did put out a Spanish-only campaign video attacking Salazar, accusing her of sitting down with the late Fidel Castro to "praise" him and with Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro to assist in an infomercial. Taddeo does not denounce Lulo in the video.

Salazar, a former Spanish-language political correspondent for Univision (bureau chief), Telemundo (Cuba), and MegaTV, did sit down with Castro and Maduro in her capacity as a journalist.