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AOC And Rubio Spar Over The Spanish Origins Of The American West

Rubio highlights Spanish colonial roots of the cowboy, while Ocasio-Cortez stresses indigenous, Mexican, and African contributions to American Western culture.

  • The American cowboy culture, including horses, ranches, and rodeos, originated in Spain and traces back to Spanish explorers like Hernán Cortés in the early 1500s.
  • Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the narrative emphasizing Spanish origins, calling it a 'pure appeal to Western culture' and stated that Mexicans and descendants of African enslaved peoples would dispute this claim.
  • Historical evidence shows that horses were reintroduced to the Americas by Spanish explorers, and the cowboy tradition developed from the Spanish vaquero system, including Spanish-derived equipment and rodeo practices.
  • Marco Rubio highlighted various European influences on America's development, while Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez emphasized recognizing indigenous and enslaved peoples' contributions to American history.
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Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is being mocked by her comments during her participation in the Munich Security Conference, where she publicly questioned a speech by Marco Rubio in which, she said, the Secretary of State attributed the origin of U.S. cowboys only to Spain.Read more

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The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, claimed responsibility this Sunday at the Munich 2026 Security Conference for Spain’s heritage in the American West and in the cowboy; that is, he wanted to highlight the Spanish –and European – roots in American DNA. “Our horses, our ranches, our rodeos... Everything romantic about the Western American cowboy archetype was born in Spain,” Rubio said in Munich. And yes. Marco Rubio is right. Because the …

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The Daily CallerThe Daily Caller
+2 Reposted by 2 other sources
Right

AOC Attempts To Mock Marco Rubio Over Basic Historical Fact — It Quickly Blows Up In Her Face

Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attempted to mock Secretary of State Marco Rubio for stating that Spanish explorers brought horses to Mexico.

·Washington, United States
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ussanews.com broke the news in on Sunday, February 15, 2026.
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