- Last Friday, a cultural promoter was beaten by a well-known neo-Nazi militant.
- Raúl Romero is a contributor to the Mexican national daily newspaper, La Jornada.
Jessica Xantomila
Raúl Romero, sociologist and academic at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), denounced that he has become the victim of a campaign on Twitter, in which he has even received death threats, for visiblizing and denouncing the activism of neo-fascist groups in the country. These acts are in addition to the physical aggression suffered last Friday by cultural promoter Víctor García Zapata by a recognized member of these movements.
In an interview, Romero, a contributor to La Jornada, explained that due to the threats against him, he filed a complaint with the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, given that the level of aggression by these groups has escalated, ranging from painting swastikas and other symbols in counterculture spaces – as happened at the end of January at the Multiforo Cultural Alicia – to attacks against activists.
These groups, he explained, have gone from a stage of recruitment, of visibility, to one of action, and we know that they have a history of aggressions against social movements, political referents, intellectuals and activists. For this reason, he mentioned, it was decided to make public individual and collective denunciations in conjunction with several organizations, as well as to mention the Attorney General’s Office, the cybernetic police and the Secretariat of Citizen Security of the capital city on social networks.
Real people
He indicated that the campaign against him has lasted three days during which he has received a large number of messages on Twitter, in which they have denigrated his person, mocked his physique and “even directly threatened to make an attempt on my life.” He said that this attitude arose as a result of the call he made on that platform to organize an anti-fascist coordination in Mexico City, and another message in which “we exposed some of the main actors on the social networks, where we shared which were the accounts that were sharing photos and messages of hatred.”
He pointed out that among the users who have written to him are some real people, who have a presence in groups in Mexico, and also many who are in Spain, Peru and Miami, United States, with speeches of all kinds, seeking to generate confusion, some openly fascist, others Sinarchist, some claiming to be Cristeros and others from groups of yesteryear that operated in Mexico and other regions of Latin America.
Venas Rotas Discos announced that García Zapata, a member of its team, was allegedly assaulted by a person known as Liber Hatred, a neo-Nazi militant. He said that the incident took place on Friday outside his premises in the Roma neighborhood, which had already been graffitied with swastikas and other Nazi symbols at the end of January.
“The aggressor confronted and beat our colleague, making reference to his alleged involvement in the denunciation and cancellation of neo-Nazi concerts,” he said.
He also expressed his concern for the physical integrity of his team, and added that it is necessary “to raise awareness about the danger of the use of violence by these groups.”
García Zapata indicated that he has filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office of the capital and already has the support of the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders.
This article was published in La Jornada on February 19th, 2023. https://www.jornada.com.mx/2023/02/19/politica/007n1pol
English translation by Schools for Chiapas.