El Yunque (organization)

The National Organization of the Anvil or simply El Yunque (in English: The Anvil) is the name of a former secret society of Mexican regional origin but alleged to now be a national political force and whose purpose, according to the reporter Álvaro Delgado, "is to defend the Catholic religion and fight the forces of Satan, whether through violence or murder" and establish the kingdom of God in the land that is subject to the Mexican Government to the mandates of the Roman Catholic Church through the infiltration of all its members at the highest levels of political power. The organization was allegedly formed in Puebla in the early 1950s.[1][2]

Symbol of the organization El Yunque

Wealthy businessmen and politicians (mostly from the conservative National Action Party (PAN)) have been named as alleged founders and members of The Anvil.

One of the most prominent critics of The Anvil, investigative reporter Delgado (see References) says that The Anvil can be described as "ultracatholic, anticommunist, antisemitic, antiliberal and with fascistic traits".[3] He also claims that top members of PAN and former President Vicente Fox's cabinet are also members of El Yunque. PAN president Manuel Espino Barrientos talked in an interview in 2002 without inconvenience about the membership to El Yunque of some acquaintances of his.[4] Members of PAN have condemned Delgado's claims as "pure fiction", comparing it to the mythical monster, chupacabra, and saying that El Yunque has nothing to do with the party.[1] A former PAN Presidential candidate and party head, Luis H. Alvarez, says that the organization is real but has infiltrated only a negligible portion of the party.[1]

Since it is allegedly a secret organization, most reports about it comes from its critics and alleged ex-members. One noted, purported ex-member is the former mayor of Puebla, Luis Paredes Moctezuma who has led demonstrations against the organization, demanding the expulsion of all heads of PAN who are also affiliated to El Yunque. Paredes Moctezuma has also explicitly pointed current party leader Manuel Espino Barrientos as a yunquista.[5] He has said that El Yunque played a role backing Vicente Fox's campaign in 2000.[6]

In 2007, Paredes claimed the group controlled four state governments in Mexico and that it established cells in the United States in the early 1990s, saying, "They're in Dallas, in Boston, in Washington, D.C., in Los Angeles, in Miami." [2]

Parades claimed The Anvil was formed in the early 1950s as a reaction to anti-Catholic sentiment under the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).[2] He says it attracted religious students who sought to counter the leftist influence reflected in the Cuban revolution and communist China and Russia.[2] He says the group opposed PAN member Felipe Calderon's Presidential candidacy and is thus in a poor position to influence him.[2]

According to its critics, the secret organization of El Yunque was supposedly paramilitary in nature, performing its actions (including political assassination mostly through a set of front organizations) and, according to the magazine Contralínea, this included the student organization MURO at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in the 1960s.[7]

One political commentator dismissed claims about the group as an easy way to smear political opponents, "I have never found anyone who admits to being a member of El Yunque. All I see are attacks from the left. It's an easy way to dismiss someone." [2]

There is no hard evidence that this organization exists.

El Yunque in Spain

In 2012 Álvaro Delgado reported that El Yunque was being active in Spain influencing on conservative People's Party.[8] He would later report a connection between El Yunque and far-right political party Vox.[9]

In 2014 a Spanish judge declared there was possibly evidence to show a relationship between members of the association HazteOir (HO) and El Yunque. However, she couldn’t say with certainty that such an organization exists.[10] It has also been linked to CitizenGO,[11] foundation created by HazteOir (HO was later subsumed under CitizenGO).

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References
  1. Forbes, Michael, The Secret Society That Won't Go Away, Guadalajara Reporter, June 29, 2007
  2. Ilef, Laurence, Critics say secret society has infiltrated Mexican government, Dallas Morning News, July 9, 2007
  3. Santiago Jiménez, Mario V. (2016). El Yunque de México: del periodismo a la historia. Nuevo Mundo Mundos Nuevos. ISSN 1626-0252.
  4. ”Espino de Sonora al CEN” Archived 2007-09-10 at the Wayback Machine "El Universal", 2002/may/30
  5. Noticias de Hoy / Partidos / PAN Archived 2007-01-15 at the Wayback Machine, "yoinfluyo.com", 2007/jan/12
  6. "Luis Paredes Rompe el Silencio" Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, statuspuebla.com.mx - He said, "... and when we (El Yunque) proposed to oust the PRI, this was absurd and impossible, however we succeeded. We went step after step for years and decades. We threw the PRI out of Los Pinos (the presidencial residence)".
  7. CARA, La Extrema Derecha de El Yunque "Revista Contralínea"
  8. El Yunque se legaliza… en España
  9. Las conexiones de Vox con HazteOir, los 'kikos' y una docena de obispos españoles
  10. Una jueza destapa los vínculos entre la secta secreta El Yunque y 'ultras' de Hazte Oír
  11. Gutiérrez, Alejandro (2016-09-02). "Asociación yunquista en España entrega firmas contra iniciativa de Peña sobre matrimonios gay" (in Spanish). Proceso. El documento que presentaron a la embajada mexicana tenía la portada el nombre de CitizenGo, una de las organizaciones que ofrece apoyo internacional al Frente Nacional por la Familia, en México, y que el periodista de Proceso, Álvaro Delgado identificó como una de los tentáculos de El Yunque español que están detrás de las movilizaciones en México

Further reading
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