Heritage's Israel Ortega, right, leads Heritage's efforts to educate Hispanic Americans about the importance of conservative ideas.

Israel Ortega has made a career out of his two passions:  promoting conservative ideas and celebrating his Hispanic heritage.

As The Heritage Foundation’s chief spokesman to Spanish-language news media, Ortega is involved with communicating The Heritage Foundation’s message to America’s fastest-growing minority.

“This is a very impressionable demographic,” says Ortega. “If we don’t reach out to them, they are likely to become open to bigger government. We must focus on this group to advance the conservative movement.” Continue Reading »

Heritage Vice President Mike Gonzalez. Photo: Chas Geer

Remembering his childhood in communist-run Cuba, Heritage Foundation Vice President Mike Gonzalez describes very personal experiences with the terrors of government gone wrong.

“It’s funny because I learned the values of small government by seeing government out of control,” he says.

Sitting at his desk on a Wednesday afternoon, Gonzalez, who oversees Heritage’s communications efforts, explains what it was like growing up in Cuba and how it shaped his life and outlook on politics. He speaks about why he is a conservative, what makes him passionate about working at Heritage, the country he so dearly loves and the need to explain conservative policy to all audiences. Continue Reading »

As America turns its attention towards the election in November, candidates are turning their attention to a key voting block: Americans citizens of Hispanic descent.

In the 2008 election, 9.7 million Hispanics voted. Estimates for the 2012 election suggest that number could grow to 11.8 million.

President Obama has a history of actively courting the Hispanic vote. This key group, however, has been some of the hardest hit by his economic policies.

The Heritage Foundation’s Mike Brownfield explains:

From 2005 to 2009, median household wealth among Hispanics fell by 66%, compared with a drop of 53% among blacks and 16% among non-Hispanic whites; the unemployment rate among Hispanics in March was 10.3 percent, compared to 8.2 percent among the broader population; and between 2006 and 2010, the poverty rate among Hispanics increased more than any other group, from 20.6 percent to 26.6 percent, all according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Continue Reading »

At 8:15 a.m. Eastern on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” Heritage Libertad Editor Izzy Ortega will discuss the impact of the Hispanic vote on the next election. Ortega coordinates Heritage’s effort to advance conservative ideas in Hispanic communities.

And tonight in the 6:00 p.m. hour on Fox News’ “Special Report with Brett Baier,” labor expert James Sherk is discussing the National Labor Relations Board and snap union elections.

In late March, President Barack Obama will visit Brazil, Chile and El Salvador during his first trip to South and Central America since taking office two years ago.

To preview the President’s trip, The Heritage Foundation and the Council of the Americas welcomed host country ambassadors.

Watch below as Ambassadors Francisco Altschul of El Salvador, Roberto Matus of Chile, and Mauro Vieira of Brazil offer their views on the nature of the relationship with the United States and what they see as the primary issues and objectives that will shape the President’s agenda as he visits their countries and meets their leaders.

Ed Feulner

2010 was the year of the conservative voter. And many of those conservative votes were from the Hispanic community. Why? Because “conservative solutions have universal appeal,” explains Heritage president Ed Feulner.

“Small government, a strong defense, individual freedom – these principles attract voters of every age, race and economic background,” he writes in the Washington Times.

The Heritage Foundation is taking great lengths to communicate conservative values and solutions to all Americans. That’s why we recently launched Libertad.org, a new Spanish-language website which provides access to the same research provided on Heritage.org.