"Pregnant?
Do I feel trapped and would like to escape reality?
There is a solution, call us.
Absolute discretion.”
The phrase, printed on stickers posted in the streets, served more than two decades ago for the Mexican extreme right to operate secretly against women's rights.
Behind the stickers hid ultra-conservative civil organizations that sought to deceive those who wanted to have an abortion.
When they called looking for help to terminate their pregnancy, they harassed them until they gave up.
Now they no longer need to pretend.
Years ago, these organizations discovered that raising their voices publicly could be more profitable and they took to the streets to claim their proclamations.
That path led them last year to unsuccessfully try to register for the first time a presidential candidate who would represent them outside of the traditional parties.
Although the numbers are still residual for a country of 126 million inhabitants, they have become emboldened and have begun to operate openly in political spaces, in order to set their own agenda: the prohibition of abortion, heterosexual marriage and the struggle against LGBT rights.
01:31
The Mexican extreme right against women
The discussion about whether to operate openly or keep a low profile began in the far right several decades ago.
The debate strained the relationship between the founders of the National Front for the Family, the historic ultra-conservative organization that militates against abortion and equal marriage, according to one of them, who prefers to remain anonymous.
The differences dragged on for years without reaching a clear conclusion.
In recent times, however, groups have emerged in Mexico in the shadow of the new right-wing waves in the region, formed mainly by dedicated young people who campaign for the same ideas from decades ago.
And now they do it with the loudspeaker in hand, without fear and with the certainty that the more attention they attract, the more support they will get.
The past:
the El Yunque papers
A faction of the extreme right in Mexico took refuge about five decades ago in secret sects about which it was forbidden to speak in public, such as El Yunque, founded in Puebla in 1953. Its members swore loyalty to each other in extravagant rituals and self-flagellation under the promise of keep silence.
They used false names so as not to recognize themselves outside and the strongest became “combat warrior monks” who clashed in the streets with Freemasons and members of the Opus Dei, or infiltrated Congresses to attack those who were considered “enemies,” such as gays, socialists or pro-abortion organizations, according to what a former member of the sect told this newspaper.
In their best era, during the presidency of Vicente Fox, they held positions in the federal government and opened universities.
Under the wings of El Yunque, several civil associations created by themselves flew over which they used to operate in the shadows.
EL PAÍS accessed dozens of internal documents from El Yunque that explain in detail the doctrine of the secret sect.
One of these papers details how they had to operate outside the order, either in influence or action groups.
They infiltrated or created journalistic publications and institutions.
And from there they worked in favor of “the cause,” as they called the imposition of the “kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth.”
The objective, according to one of the documents, was “to collaborate in the organization of the temporal according to Evangelical principles through the realization of the political vocation.”
That same instruction indicates that, as part of the national strategy, they had created four supposedly civil organizations.
One was the historic Provida, which received money from the Fox Government and whose leader ended up in prison accused of embezzlement.
Two others, the APN Citizen Coordinator and the Testimony and Hope Movement, are currently out of action.
The last one, Acción Juvenil, remains active and has openly supported Xóchitl Gálvez's presidential campaign.
The four were an example of operations against women's rights.
Diego Gil – the fictitious name given to him in the sect – joined El Yunque in 2002 and became Secretary of the Interior: a middle position in the internal structure.
He handled secret information, was in charge of part of the teaching that was given and organized the initiation ceremonies.
The now former member relates in an interview with EL PAÍS that he personally was one of those who posted the stickers to deceive pregnant women.
“It looked like an abortion clinic.
The girls came and told him: 'Look, this is not an abortion clinic, we are going to show you your baby and you are going to see the alternatives you have,' he says.
Claudel Estrella
One of the documents accessed by this newspaper, called
the Leadership Manual
, details what the ultraconservative doctrine considered on this issue: “The defenders of abortion have attempted to cover its criminal nature through confusing or evasive terminology, hiding the murder with jargon such as 'voluntary interruption of pregnancy' or under concepts such as 'right to decide' or 'right to reproductive health'.
Along these lines, they prepared the heads of the secret order to face social discussions and convince that terminating a pregnancy was wrong, even when it endangered the life of the mother or was the result of rape.
To attack women's rights, the doctrine taught them that it was “extremely rare” for them to become pregnant after rape due to the “extremely high” rates of sexual dysfunctions that rapists had.
“It is obvious that the horrific crime of rape is used to raise public awareness in favor of abortion, by presenting the innocent fruit of a possible brutal conception as an aggressor,” the document reads.
“It is clear that the woman has suffered a first horrible attack, that of rape.
Presenting abortion as a 'solution' is saying that one poison must be combated by applying another," she adds.
This information has been denied by scientific studies and human rights organizations that operate in Mexico, one of the countries with the highest rate of pregnant minors — all cases considered rape because girls and adolescents cannot give consent, according to the law. —.
Additionally, abortion for rape is legal throughout the country.
El Yunque instructed its followers to combat what they described as social “lies,” such as the right to decide about one's own body or the idea that legalizing it reduces clandestine abortions.
The arguments they taught were unusual and were based on ideas far from science.
For example, when faced with the proposal that each woman could decide about her own body, they maintained that if the fetus in her womb eventually developed as a woman, that woman had no right to decide.
Or they claimed that someone who “violated nature” with an abortion increased “its potential for violence and spread it to society.”
They claimed, without any evidence, that “in countries where abortion is legalized, parental violence against children increases, especially that of the mother against her children, even when they are planned.”
Social lies,
according to El Yunque
"LIE"
It is inhumane not to legalize therapeutic abortion, which should be performed when the pregnancy puts the woman in danger of death or serious harm.
“The Truth", from El Yunque: The term "therapeutic" is used in order to confuse. "Therapy" means to cure and in this case abortion does not cure anything. Currently, medical science guarantees that there are practically no circumstances in which Which one should choose between the life of the mother or the life of the child.
"LIE"
It is brutal and inhumane to allow a woman to have a child resulting from rape; therefore, in these cases, so-called "sentimental" abortion should be legalized.
“The Truth", from El Yunque: First of all, pregnancies that follow rape are extremely rare. For example, sexual dysfunctions in rapists, the rate of which is extremely high. The victim may be naturally sterile; he may be very young or very old, she may already be pregnant or there may be other natural reasons. The menstrual cycle, controlled by hormones, is easily distorted by emotional stress and can act to delay ovulation; or if the woman has already ovulated, menstruation can occur prematurely.
"LIE"
Abortion must be legal because every child must be desired.
“The Truth", from El Yunque: This is an absurd argument. The "desire" or "non-desire" does not in any way affect the dignity and intrinsic value of a person. The child is not a "thing" whose value can be decide another according to your mood. On the other hand, the fact that a woman is not happy with her pregnancy during the first months does not indicate that this same woman will not love her baby once it is born.
"LIE"
Abortion should be legal because a woman has the right to decide about her own body.
“The Truth", from El Yunque: But not when common sense and modern science recognize that in a pregnancy there are two lives and two bodies. A woman, according to the dictionary definition, is a "female human being." Since sex It is determined chromosomally at conception, and about half of those who are aborted are "female human beings"; obviously NOT EVERY WOMAN HAS THE RIGHT TO CONTROL HER OWN BODY.
"LIE"
With the legalization of abortion, clandestine abortions would end.
“The Truth", from El Yunque: Statistics in "developed" countries show that this is not the case. On the contrary, the legalization of abortion makes it a method that seems morally acceptable and therefore, as a possible option that It is not equally considered where it is not legal.
The present:
the new extreme right
The new far-right in Mexico has taken over the loudspeaker.
She now meets publicly and even aims to make noise to appear stronger than she really is.
In 2022, their groups gathered around the Conservative Action Political Conference (CPAC) in the capital, where they invited important figures from the global far-right.
The following year, they tried to promote the independent campaign for the Presidency of Eduardo Verástegui, but they were left out due to lack of support.
Along the way, they have participated in massive mobilizations against the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Far-right groups have tried to gain space on the political scene by clinging to current social movements.
“The extreme right uses opposition issues to show a force greater than what they have,” says Reynaldo Ortega, researcher at the College of Mexico.
That is why they have been seen joining demonstrations such as the marches in defense of the National Electoral Institute, also called Pink Tide, or the protests against the new school books, which teach about feminism and present various types of families, such as single-parent families.
Along these lines, one of the actors that fought the most against the school textbooks of the López Obrador Executive was the National Front for the Family.
Far-right groups have tried to gain space on the political scene by clinging to current social movements
Speaking out loud about “the defense of life” has yielded some fruits.
Small armies of young people dressed in light blue have taken to the streets to condemn the advance of abortion in Mexico, after the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation decriminalized it in September 2021. One of those young people is Jorge Luis Pimentel, a student of Law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and director of ProLife Army in Mexico City.
Catholic, anti-feminist and anti-abortion, Pimentel joined the military in 2021. In an interview with this newspaper, the young man says that this organization was born “to cover the political part that pro-lifers had not covered until then.”
The idea was that “they could occupy spaces” on the political stage.
Much of the ProLife Army's work has been to approach local and federal legislators in order to
lobby
to prevent the advance of the green tide in Mexico.
“The approach is focused on trying to collaborate with them to try to stop these initiatives or seek to repeal them,” says Pimentel.
The new far-right groups have whitewashed their strategies like never before.
One of the associations that participated in the CPAC in Mexico, Hazte Sentir —whose name evokes the Spanish Hazte Oír— has detailed on its website what its tasks are towards society.
They have focused on three projects: conquering spaces and voices in the media;
approach “people who influence the political life” of the country to promote “initiatives that seek the common good”;
and give workshops and seminars to reach people.
CLAUDEL STAR
The traditional right-wing party in Mexico, National Action (PAN), failed to accommodate many of the political expressions that were to its right.
Researcher Rodrigo Castro explained, in a study published in November by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, that “from the perspective of the radical right, the PAN did not decisively channel its programmatic agenda into sociocultural issues.”
He mainly points out opposition to abortion and defense of traditional marriage.
These ultra currents moved away from the PAN, first under the current of the National Front for the Family, and currently in independent cells.
That's what happened to Alice Galván.
Former advisor to a PAN senator, Galván was the one who put the blue and white party in contact with the ultra-Spanish party Vox.
That connection opened the door to Santiago Abascal's visit to the Mexican Congress, where he took a photo with leaders of the Mexican right, and to the adhesion of some blocs to the Madrid Charter, a document promoted by a foundation associated with Vox that seeks warn against the “advance of communism”.
The controversy that the image unleashed pushed the party to rectify and distance itself.
Disillusioned, Galván ended up leaving the training.
She now directs the conservative
think tank
Patria Unida, which she created after taking some courses in Spain with Vox.
From its website, the organization has attacked the new school textbooks and has defended the family formed by marriage “between a man and a woman.”
When Galván closed the door to the party, he told his boss: “The PAN does not realize that it has been affected by moving away from its principles and they are trying to enter a field in which they will not be voted for, because there are eight other political parties that have always defended that.”
She is not the only one who believes in this.
Many actors from the Mexican extreme right complain to the historic party for having decided to go to the polls in June with a candidate like Gálvez, who has positioned herself as a feminist and in favor of abortion.
“In politics, spaces are not left empty and the PAN left it on the right, so today there are people working to occupy that space,” she says.
First of all,
the family
The ultraconservative assemblies also take place in broad daylight, in world forums where thousands of people gather.
The ultra-conservative
lobby
met the first weekend of March in Guadalajara to celebrate its maximum value, the family, at the World Congress of Families.
Where every year the brightest minds in the world of literature gather to participate in the International Book Fair, in those days rubber fetuses were proudly displayed to impress visitors.
“Don't let anyone tell me it's not a life,” warned a promoter with “the fetin gang” in his hands.
Fetus dolls exhibited at the World Congress for Families in Guadalajara, Jalisco, in March 2024. Ernesto Mena
Around 8,000 people walked through the halls of Expo Guadalajara that weekend, including officials from various governments, such as Aguascalientes and Jalisco;
numerous members of the Catholic Church, especially Legionaries of Christ;
and academics focused on the rescue of traditional marriage as an institution.
There were even those who cited Agustín Laje, a writer from the Argentine extreme right known for his homophobic and anti-rights positions.
All those present shared the same objectives: defenestrate gender ideology and feminism, discredit the rights of the LGBT community, apply religious morality to women's bodies and combat sexual education.
“Instead of educating, children are sexualized,” launched one of the speakers, generating public hysteria.
Rodrigo Iván Cortés, president of the National Front for the Family and former deputy for the PAN, gave one of the most applauded talks.
With a tragic diagnosis of what Mexico is going through on his sleeve, he said that a politically correct scenario had been established in the country, “which is actually the most anti-human and anti-Christian” and that an “ideology of confusion” had been imposed. of genre".
What in another time they did not dare to put into words, was now the subject of long and extensive speeches on stage.
“A culture of death is growing that seeks to normalize the murder of the most vulnerable, with abortion, which is nothing other than promoting mothers to kill their children,” he claimed.
Among the Congress
stands
you could find everything from media outlets, such as TV Azteca, to publishers dedicated to producing books for the sector.
There were also nationally recognized anti-abortion groups, such as Vifac [Vida y Familia AC] or Save a life;
or associations dedicated to influencing politically and socially on the favorite issues of conservatives, such as Actívate, a platform to mobilize petitions, or Saber Votar, a website to “make informed decisions” in the next elections.
The operation
in some corners
Away from the spotlight brought by politics, some places in the country continue to live in the heat of the far-right misinformation campaigns and harassment operations against women who want to have an abortion, as reported by this newspaper in 2021. The Marea group Verde Altas Montañas, from Veracruz, has been able to document how this operation works in Orizaba.
Two associations that hid behind feminist slogans on social networks, called Decídete Orizaba and ILE—the acronym used for the legal interruption of pregnancy—operated in a house in the center of the city.
In a gesture similar to the one that El Yunque has applied for decades, they made women who approached those accounts believe that they were going to help them have an abortion, but they did the opposite.
Two feminist activists – who prefer to remain anonymous for safety – managed to sneak into the house, posing as young pregnant women who wanted to end their pregnancies.
They scheduled an appointment via WhatsApp and showed up at the property, which at first glance looks like a normal house, where a supposed doctor was waiting for them.
The episode that they both experienced lasted at least an hour, in which they were subjected to pressure not to terminate the pregnancy.
They even showed them videos with macabre images of what would happen if they did it.
“They start taking your personal information, they make you sign a sheet with your information and that's where all the manipulation begins,” one of the young women says in an interview.
Two young activists in front of the house where false feminist organizations operated, in Orizaba, in December 2023. Victoria Razo
“Do you know that you are going to bleed to death?”
“If you abort, your parents will notice.”
“You are going to commit murder.”
These are some of the phrases that the two girls remember hearing at home.
“Do you know that you are going to bleed to death?”
“If you abort, your parents will notice.”
“You are going to commit murder.”
These are some of the phrases that the two girls remember hearing at home.
Words that sound unreal in an entity that decriminalized abortion in July 2021. When they asked what the name of the organization that really operated behind the social networks that promoted themselves as feminist was called, they were told it was Vifac.
Among the offers they made to prevent them from having an abortion, was to move to another state and give the baby up for adoption after giving birth.
“You leave there traumatized, because it is something very bloody and they put you in a position like you are a murderer, stupid, crazy, selfish,” says the other activist.
Future
plans
The efforts of the Mexican extreme right are organized like satellites, each with their own objectives and projects.
Not even all the groups agreed to support Verástegui's candidacy, some ultras chose to filter into the opposition Frente Amplio por México.
Segregations have been one of the biggest obstacles.
The electoral system has been different.
In order for a person to run as an independent candidate, they must collect signatures equivalent to 1% of citizens with the right to vote, which means close to a million, which are distributed equally among 17 States, a major challenge for someone who does not have the infrastructure of a party.
Verástegui has hit that wall, who only got a tenth of what he needed.
I do believe that there is a possibility in the future, not near, definitely, says Galván, but in 2030 perhaps a big effort could be made to have a right-wing political party or at least pressure the PAN to return to this side.
“I do believe that there is a possibility in the future, not near, definitely,” says Galván, “but in 2030 perhaps a big effort could be made to have a right-wing political party or at least pressure the PAN to return towards this side".
The ultras that accommodated themselves in the opposition campaigns have come out better off.
Historical members of El Yunque made an important place in the Frente Amplio campaign for Mexico in the State of Puebla.
There they will accompany the candidate for governor, Eduardo Rivera, identified by many voices as a member of the ultra-conservative sect.
For local representative Mónica Silva, from the Labor Party, El Yunque and the extreme right in that entity ended up infiltrating all political parties, and put pressure on Congress to stop pro-abortion initiatives.
It was not enough, for example, for the legislative chamber to have a majority of women and supposedly from the left, she says.
Claudel Estrella
“The extreme right has permeated Morena [National Regeneration Movement],” says Silva, “and the agenda for women has become uncomfortable.”
The Congress of Puebla has recently seen the presentation of a bill for the unborn and one for the parental pin - the regulation of educational content by parents - both promoted by the PAN.
Despite the stagnation of abortion in the local legislative chamber, the Government of Sergio Salomón was forced to open seven clinics in December that would carry out pregnancy terminations in compliance with a resolution of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
A measure that has caused blisters within that Administration.
In that Executive there are members of the extreme right who were infiltrating, comments feminist activist Socorro Quezada.
“The entire conservative wing is in key positions.”
This report was produced with the support of the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) as part of its Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice in the Americas program initiative.
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