Hilton Orlando hosted a secret AFPAC last weekend
A secret gathering of far-right activists whose organizer spouted white nationalist rhetoric and defended the U.S. Capitol riot was held this past weekend at the Hilton Orlando.
Despite the organizer’s boasting of not wearing masks, a spokesperson for the hotel says all proper coronavirus policies were followed. Officials with Hilton would not say if the hotel would host such an event again.
The America First Political Action Conference, or AFPAC, was organized by Nick Fuentes as an alternative to the Conservative Political Action Conference held just down the road at the Hyatt Regency Orlando.
Organizers had been secretive about where the event was being held, not even telling attendees who bought tickets on its website. The event, it turns out, was more of a dinner than a multi-day conference.
While mask-wearing was spotty at CPAC, with several attendees booing organizers when asked to comply with Orange County orders and Hyatt policies, Fuentes openly boasted that no one was wearing masks at his event.
“At AFPAC, we don’t wear masks,” he said outside the Hyatt after being asked to leave CPAC on Saturday, according to the Orlando Weekly.
The unnamed Hilton Orlando spokesperson said in a statement that the hotel “complies with all federal,
state and local laws and ordinances, as well as Hilton’s physical distancing protocols and policy requiring a face covering in indoor public areas.”
“We work closely with event organizers to take additional precautions to encourage face coverings and physical distancing, including reminding guests at arrival and via hotel signage of the hotel’s protocols,” the statement said.
Orange County did not have the Hilton on a list of recent warnings and citations, nor was the Hilton on a list of recent “strike team” inspections as was CPAC at the Hyatt on Friday.
At AFPAC, Fuentes gave a speech that ABC
news reported was “filled with white grievance and far-right anti-immigration rhetoric.”
“If [America] loses its white demographic core … then this is not America anymore,” Fuentes told the crowd.
Fuentes, a speaker at the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally preceding the attack on the U.S. Capitol, went on to praise the attack.
“While I was there in D.C., outside of the building, and I saw hundreds of thousands of patriots surrounding the U.S. Capitol building and I saw the police retreating ... I said to myself: ‘This is awesome,’ ” Fuentes said, according to ABC News.
Hilton had no comment
when asked if it would consider hosting the event again considering the organizer’s rhetoric.
AFPAC made national news when U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, gave the keynote address. The next day he seemingly backtracked, telling CPAC, “I denounce when we talk about white racism. That’s not appropriate.”
Enrique Torrio, chair of the neo-fascist group the Proud Boys, told a group of Trump supporters outside CPAC Saturday that he was in town for other events, not mentioning AFPAC by name.