Rosaries and anti-abortion slogans: the ultra-right in Latin America seeks leaders who align with their values

The two-day congress that brings together ultra-right leaders from around the world in Mexico began on Friday with a counter-demonstration by a handful of anti-capitalists singing — “because the fight is joy” — and proclaiming their slogans in front of the doors of the Westin hotel in Mexico, and ended in the same roundabout with a parade of large trucks from which people dressed up for the donor dinner came down, at a rate of 5,000 pesos (about 250 euros) per head. In between, 10 hours of non-stop conferences by leaders and activists convened by the Conservative Action Political Conference (CPAC). Tall, short, fat and thin, blond and dark, there was no pattern, except that the majority were white and with above-average fertility: the traditional family and the more children the better were repeated slogans.

In the morning, Polish Nobel laureate Lech Walesa mentioned Fidel Castro to reassure the audience that his speech would be much shorter. At night, Eduardo Bolsonaro —son of the still president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro— closed the day saying the same thing. Bolsonaro was showered with applause, but he did not surpass the protagonists, God and the Virgin of Guadalupe, much cited and more applauded. The congress had a markedly Catholic tone, there were Christian publishers and lawyers, posts that called for the sanctification of priests, associations to help pregnant women and prevent them from having an abortion, virgins as cell phone screens, a booth for the works of Anacleto González Flores… The woman’s mission one of the books that he left written is titled. And what is that mission? The gentleman who attends the booth explains it: “Education, because women have the gifts of tenderness, beauty and love.” And not the man? “Yes, of course, but the man stands out more in strength and intelligence.”

It was a question in this meeting of exposing the malice of the left and what the extreme right can do to surpass its comrades only on the right and seize power in the different governments. And they contributed to this end, among other ultra-conservatives in the world, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Chilean ultra-conservative politician José Antonio Kast, former US ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau and US Republican Senator Ted Cruz is still expected on Saturday and the Argentine far-right politician Javier Milei. The Spanish Juan Ángel Soto cited an advantage for that company: “We have such superior values, we defend goodness and beauty, there is nothing better, we must get married and have children. There is nothing better”. He received cheers at a summit that many called a “historic moment.”

Another thing that some of the speakers agreed on is the illegitimacy of governments. Of the leftist governments: Lula’s victory in Brazil is illegitimate; the Spanish government is illegitimate, the US elections are illegitimate. The blame for that is, to a large extent, electronic voting. Eduardo Bolsonaro, the great star of the day, already said it: “I can say it, yes, because they elected me with an electronic vote.”

Star, star was also Eduardo Verastegui, formerly an actor and now president of CPAC Mexico, dedicated in body and soul to combating the trafficking of boys and girls for sexual exploitation and later sale of organs. Verastegui was acclaimed with a classic cry: “President, president.” Bolsonaro Jr. also mentioned it: “Here is the future president of Mexico, who, in addition to being intelligent, is handsome.” In other words, gifts of man and woman. But Verastegui does not yet have a political party, although he affirmed that it is time to think about it, to get out of the “orphanhood” in which the true right in Mexico finds itself. That’s what he said.

Verastegui himself, also president of Viva México, was the one who invited the Servants of the Word, missionary sisters, and 13 of them signed up. They share a creed: gospel and freedom, “because in Mexico religious freedom is being attacked,” said Yesslia Hernández Pérez. And what does that translate into? “Well, there are, for example, initiatives that prohibit births.” But how is that going to be, if President López Obrador is very religious and constantly invokes Christ and the Virgin of Guadalupe? “I don’t see anything religious about it, it’s just a way of using religion, a political strategy. It mixes the feelings of Mexicans, who are sensitive to faith ”, supported Sister Mónica Ortiz Cid, under her dark mask. The nuns of the Word also feel orphaned as leaders: “Well, Margarita Zavala, Calderón’s wife, she does promote values ​​of religious freedom,” according to Sor Hernández Pérez.

Leaders, that is what the ultra-conservatives say they are forming in this congress. But booth where that sign “Mexican Leaders” appeared was empty for half a day. Then they put a table and two chairs. Two men sat there and left their work belongings, a television camera and other supplies. Are you the Mexican leaders? “No, no, but we would like to be,” they joked.

Those attending the great conference feel persecuted by the laws and measures taken by left-wing governments, and helpless by the little shelter they find in the right when they reach power. They don’t see their Christian values ​​being taken into account. They also complain that they are accused of being racist, xenophobic, homophobic, classist and fascist. Bolsonaro made a joke of it: “Well, well, but people don’t want to pay taxes, right?” Well, there’s the thing, he came to say. Democrats? he wondered too. Who are the democrats, when he has been banned from social networks? “How many of you have been blocked by social networks?” Asked one of the speakers on the platform. And several hands waved in the air.

A recurring theme was the chaos that the ultra-right finds in the human body: men who claim to be women or vice versa, who go to school with an established sex and return home fluid, who “form families with two little dogs and four kittens”, who “marry a plant”. Everything in the new vineyard of the Lord. Miklos Lukacs, an expert in philosophy and bioethics, offered a whole catalog of these new experiments with which “man plays God.” And with photos included. “That is no longer a penis, it is a vagina that has lost its moisture, that penis is no longer good for anything,” he said, wringing his hands in a disturbing way. “Others mutilate their ears, their noses, there is no longer any respect for physical integrity”, in this drift of humanity towards “hedonistic utilitarianism”.

The anti-capitalists of the morning took it with another philosophy: “The fight is joy.”

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