In the world of international politics, there are stories that capture the world’s attention and those that quietly simmer beneath the surface, known only to a dedicated few. The saga of Fernando Cerimedo, an Argentine political strategist with deep ties to the far-right, squarely falls into the latter category. While his story might have initially been overlooked by the English-language press, a deeper investigation reveals a complex web of influence, money, and digital manipulation that stretches from the vibrant streets of Buenos Aires to the corridors of power in Washington D.C. It is a story that doesn’t end at a border or with a single election; instead, it sprawls across continents, connecting some of the most controversial figures in modern politics. The key to understanding this entire operation, it turns out, lies not in the Argentine pampas, but in the sun-drenched, politically charged atmosphere of Miami, Florida, a city that serves as both a haven and a launching pad for a particular brand of Latin American conservatism.
Cerimedo’s journey into the upper echelons of international right-wing politics began with his arrival in Miami, a city that operates as a crucial nexus for Latin American political intrigue. According to a detailed investigation published in the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, which drew from documents filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Miami was far more than just a convenient business address for Cerimedo. It functioned as a powerful platform for coordination and collaboration among various factions: Latin American political campaigns, ideologically aligned media outlets, veteran political consultants, influential organizations within the Cuban American ecosystem, and powerful sectors of the Republican Party. This unique environment, with its blend of exile politics, aggressive anti-communist sentiment, and access to American power, provided the perfect breeding ground for the kind of radical political projects Cerimedo was involved in. At the heart of this vibrant and sometimes extremist ecosystem was Damian Merlo, a pivotal figure who served as the ultimate connector. Merlo, a lobbyist and public relations consultant who managed the Latin America Advisory Group (LAAG), and who had previously worked as a screening officer for the US State Department in Havana, acted as the ultimate welcome wagon for the Argentine strategist. It was Merlo who, in 2023, orchestrated Cerimedo’s fateful and hugely popular appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show, a move that would catapult the Argentine into the mainstream of American right-wing media just two months before Javier Milei’s triumphant election as president of Argentina.
Through Merlo, Cerimedo gained access to a level of political power that most foreign operatives could only dream of. His network became a direct pipeline to the offices of influential congresspeople deeply involved in hard-right politics across Latin America. This included figures like Representatives Mario Díaz-Balart and Maria Elvira Salazar, who holds the influential position of chairing the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. The connections didn’t stop at the Capitol; they extended into the executive branch, reaching the very top of the State Department under Secretary Marco Rubio. Evidence of this high-level access can be found in an official State Department photograph from a “Shield of the Americas” summit held on March 7, 2026. In the photo, Cerimedo is seated at a small, intimate table of six, placed directly across from the US Secretary of State himselfals, alongside his colleague Rodrigo Paz, looking every bit the part of a trusted ally rather than a foreign political consultant. This image is a powerful testament to how deeply entrenched Cerimedo had become within the American political establishment, where access is often the most valuable currency of all Surveys.
One key figure in this saga is Brad Parscale, the digital media director for Trump’s 2016 campaign and campaign manager for his 2020 bid. When Cerimedo established his company, Numen Academy, in Miami in 2023, it quickly joined forces with Merlo’s LAAG to work on the Milei campaign. But through Numen, Cerimedo found his most natural partner in Parscale. The two men were a match made in heaven, sharing a similarly cynical and data-driven approach to political warfare. Parscale was the architect behind the 2016 Trump campaign’s revolutionary social media strategy, and it was he who funneled around $6 million to Cambridge Analytica in 2016 to harvest Facebook data from eighty-seven million users without their consenthe risk. This was the kind of “service” that Parscale offered, and Cerimedo was eager to tap into it. The collaboration was immediately fruitful. In the Honduran elections, Parscale provided remote advice to Numen on how to use data to target voters with surgical precision. In Bolivia, he went a step further, traveling to the country to help Numen’s team implement his companies’ proprietary data tools on the ground. This partnership was formalized in 2025 when Cerimedo was named the designated representative and exclusive Latin American licensee for Campaign Nucleus, a company owned by Parscale, as well as its affiliate, Eyesover. Cerimedo has been candid about this reliance, openly admitting, “Brad provided all the technology that I work with.” The relationship is a stark illustration of how modern political campaigns are increasingly won and lost not just on the merits of any candidate, but on the technological firepower and data manipulation capabilities at their disposal.
The implications of this partnership and the broader network it sits within are significant empirical. This is not a story about isolated political consultants sharing tips over coffee; it is a story about the formation of a coordinated international force for digital manipulation and ideological warfare. The fact that Cerimedo had access to such sensitive US political spaces, combined with the protection of powerful officials connected to Latin America and the technological muscle of key American political operatives like Parscale, paints a concerning picture. Parscale’s own registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in October 2025, acting as an agent for the Israeli government through a German media intermediary, only adds another layer of complexity to this shadowy network. It reveals a world where political technology, private interest, and foreign policy ambitions collide, with little regard for national borders or the conventional rules that have traditionally governed political discourse. The Cerimedo story is ultimately not just about one man’s rise to influence; it is a testament to the rise of a new kind of political playbook, one that is data-driven, ideologically extreme, and increasingly transnational in its operations, representing a serious challenge to global democracies that are often ill-equipped to defend against these sophisticated attacks.