“The traditional political class has not been able to solve the problems that Mexico has suffered for decades, but they make everything worse,” Sound of Freedom producer Eduardo Verástegui said in a four-minute video in which he announced his decision to run for president of Mexico in 2024 as an independent.
“Today we have more corruption in Mexico, more violence, more poverty and Mexicans continue to migrate to the United States in search of a dream that many times turns, sadly, into a terrible nightmare,” Verástegui continues.
¡Viva México! pic.twitter.com/nARunocu7a
— Eduardo Verástegui (@EVerastegui) August 13, 2023
Verástegui also took to his Instagram and told his 800,000-plus followers that “After a period of discernment, I made the most important decision of my life: I have just registered with the [National Electoral Institute] my intention as an aspiring independent candidate for the presidency of the Mexican Republic, for the elections on June 2, 2024.”
Mexico’s major political parties have tapped their candidates for next June’s general election. Indeed, Verástegui has the backing of the Republican Mexico party, several religious groups, and former President Donald J. Trump, who called the 49-year-old producer “the next president of Mexico,” Milenio reports.
His announcement comes just as his hit anti-trafficking drama Sound of Freedom is breaking global box office records and is currently dominating in 18 Latin American countries.
As of Thursday, the Jim Caviezel-starring film has grossed over $182 million on a budget of $15 million.