Background: Mexican politics in the 1920s The origins of
Los TECOS finds its roots most directly in the conservative and Catholic pushback to political developments in
Mexico in the 1920s, which came to the fore in the
Mexican Revolution, in the aftermath of the fall of the moderate liberal-regime of the
Porfiriato period. Although General
Porfirio Díaz was a
Freemason himself and adhered to
Liberal Party positions, he did not actively enforce
anticlericalism (even though this technically remained on the books), so as a compromise, his reign had been relatively tolerated by Mexican conservative elements. This included the
Asociación Católica de la Juventud Mexicana (ACJM), a mostly lay association sponsored by the
Society of Jesus, which had been created in 1913 by Fr.
Bernardo Bergöend, a French-born Jesuit, with the approval of
José Mora y del Río, the
Archbishop of Mexico. Some of these groups include
La Legión or
Los Legiones (founded in 1932 by Manuel Romo de Alba and close to the Jesuits and
synarchism), its successor
La Base (founded in 1934, which would eventually create the
Unión Nacional Sinarquista), and
Los Conejos (founded in 1935 in Mexico City).
Los TECOS, founded at
Guadalajara,
Jalisco in 1934, was one of these rightist Mexican Catholic "reserved" societies. Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson have claimed that Carlos Cuesta Gallardo visited the
Third Reich in Germany during the
Second World War. What he did there is clouded in mystery, but the Andersons and others have speculated that he was there, in contact with German agents, to potentially organise setting up a formation sympathetic to the
Axis powers on the
Rio Grande as an insurance policy against the
United States. This was part of a pattern in
Germany–Mexico relations as the Germans had already intervened in the Mexican Revolution previously and the controversy surrounding the
Zimmermann telegram during
World War I (part of a plan to aid a Mexican
Reconquista of
Texas,
Arizona and
New Mexico). In the early 1930s, the young Cuesta Gallardo had already been obsessed with the concept of a Judeo-Masonic conspiracy and was a fan of literature to this effect from outside of Mexico, such as the
International Jew by
Henry Ford and the
Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, likely by the Russian
Okhrana, according to a contemporary Luis Calderón. As well as
La Complot contra la Iglesia ("The Plot Against the Church"), as a collaborative effort, under the name of “Maurice Pinay”, released at the start of the Second Vatican Council. Many of these works were released as part of the
Biblioteca de secretos políticos ("Library of Political Secrets") series. , were very popular with
Los TECOS members and were distributed widely by them at conferences. Carlos Cuesta Gallardo recruited a young intellectual, Raimundo Guerrero, into
Los TECOS, who drew in other students and academics to the banner of the UAG and through the university became the public facing lead for
Los TECOS, while Cuesta Gallardo and Leaño Alvarez del Castillo were the power behind the scenes.
UNESCO's
World University Organization held its conference in
Buenos Aires,
Argentina in 1952 and Guerrero was dispatched to represent the UAG/
Los TECOS. This proved to be an excellent networking opportunity for the organisation, as they came into contact with Argentine students of a similar mindset, the followers of Fr.
Julio Meinvielle, a Jesuit priest (associated initially in their Argentine domestic politics with a Catholic radical right faction of
Peronism, they would go on to create in a few years time their own
Movimiento Nacionalista Tacuara), in addition to this, they built up connections with members of the
Arab League, such as the Saudis, with whom they shared a mutual opposition to
Zionism and an obsession with "Jewish conspiracies." The relationship with Fr. Meinvielle was maintained over many years, his books were later distributed by
Los TECOS at World Anti-Communist League conferences and he was even invited to speak at the Guadalajara conference in the 1970s.
Los TECOS, instead of being abstentionist, engaged in a broad
public relations campaign to advance their objectives. While condemning the
United Nations in their own private works as part of the "
Masonic conspiracy", they, at the same time, used UNESCO's World University Organization to build up relations with radical right, anti-communist, anti-masonic and antisemitic forces across the world throughout the 1950s. Most audacious was their achievement of acquiring vast funding through the academic world for their university, which they developed into a credible entity as one of the most important in Latin America (particularly in the
medical field), but also funneled some of these funds into their own political activities. The biggest windfall was secured in 1962, according to
Stefan Thomas Possony, who said that "after years of financial starvation, Guadalajara UAC received money from the
Rockefeller,
Ford and
Carnegie Foundations as well as from the
Agency for International Development (AID). This happy change was accomplished by Luis Garibay, rector of the university and Guerrero's compadre." In their own publications,
Los TECOS had denounced
Nelson Rockefeller as a "Jew" (along with other American leaders,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and
Harry "Solomon" Truman). The Brazilian organisation
Tradition, Family, Property (TFP), a conservative Catholic rival of
Los TECOS on the Latin American scene claimed the man most responsible for this was Dr. Oscar Wiegand, a zoology professor at the
University of Texas, who took the Dean, Luis Garibay Gutierrez on a tour of 12 universities in the United States to solicit donations. Between 1964 and 1974, nearly $20,000,000 worth of grants were passed through these American institutions to the UAG, controlled by
Los TECOS. According to a report in the
Albuquerque Journal, "they believe they are using Jewish gold to combat the Jews."
Second Vatican Council and Sedevacantism , longtime associate of
Los TECOS, was one of the pioneers of
sedevacantism after the
Second Vatican Council.
Los TECOS are noted for being pioneers in the development of
sedevacantism. Even during the
Second Vatican Council,
Los TECOS attempted to have an influence on proceedings, working particularly against the document
Nostra aetate (a document on the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jews). In October 1962, with the opening of the council, a document entitled
Il Complotto contro la Chiesa ("The Plot Against the Church") under the
pseudonym of Maurice Pinay was anonymously distributed to all attending, causing great controversy. The document was originally authored in Spanish and is alleged by
Scott Anderson and
Jon Lee Anderson to have been authored by members of
Los TECOS; Carlos Cuesta Gallardo and Garibi Velasco, with some Italian sources attributing its spread at the Council in part to Fr.
Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga, a Mexican priest and former Jesuit who was a spiritual advisor to
Los TECOS. It warned vigilance to the Council members, with the 800-page polemic claiming that since the times of Christ, for 1900 years, Judaism had worked to overthrow Christianity and the Catholic Church, claiming involvement of the "
Synagogue of Satan" in every major
heresy, as well as encouraging "enemies" such as
Freemasonry and
Communism. In 1965, after the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, a meeting was held by
Los TECOS at the house of Anacleto González Guerrero (son of the Cristero martyr
Anacleto González Flores) in the
Distrito Federal. Also present at the meeting was Antonio Leaño Álvarez del Castillo, one of the co-founding leaders of
Los TECOS and Ramón Plata Moreno, the lay founding member of
El Yunque; according to Manuel Díaz Cid, a co-founder of
El Yunque. Leaño put forward the position of
Los TECOS, proposing that they should all declare that the seat of St. Peter was now vacant, based on the claim that Paul VI (Giovanni Montini) was actually a "Jewish infiltrator" and thus could not be a true Catholic Pope. In response,
El Yunque, represented by Plata and Díaz Cid took a more cautious line; although they were not happy with the developments coming out of Rome and filial criticisms were warranted, they nevertheless insisted that
Pope Paul VI was a legitimate Pope, based on the promise of
Jesus Christ in
Matthew 28:20 saying "I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." On 29 September 1968, they created the
Federación Mexicana Anticomunista de Occidente (FEMACO) with many other Mexican anti-communist organisations, but in which they were the controlling interest. The organisation was led by two members of
Los TECOS: professors from the
Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, Raimundo Guerrero (Gallardo's closest ally) and Rafael Rodríguez López. This would lead to the spread of
Los TECOS motto
contra la guerrilla roja, la guerrilla blanca ("against the red guerrilla, the white guerrilla").
Los TECOS in particular, earned the ire of the British and American sections within the World Anti-Communist League (WACL), who objected to what they saw as their ultra-Catholic
theocratic worldview and
antisemitism.
Los TECOS never hid that they believed communism to be a
Jewish conspiracy and were happy for speakers at the conference to openly vocalise this. The American Chapter was controlled by the
United States Council for World Freedom, which included members of the
American New Right, aligned with a
Mont Pelerin Society-style
classical liberalism, coupled with anti-communism. Mainstream politicians such as
Walter Judd and
Strom Thurmond were associated with it and it tended to have a focus on "freedom and democracy". Due to rumours of the Mexican group's activities, the ACWF prepared an internal report, authored by Austrian-born American
Stefan Thomas Possony, about
Los TECOS control of CAL. Possony had authored some serious academic works critiquing
Marxist theory, was associated with the
Hoover Institute and pioneered the
Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars") concept. Possony claimed that
Los TECOS' "anti-Semitism and antimasonism serve to conceal
anti-Americanism." Seeking to distance themselves from
Los TECOS in light of the report, without losing face politically, the ACWF adopted the following resolution worded by
Reed Irvine, "Anti-Semitism is incompatible with enlightened, civilized conduct and we condemn the communist states for the practice of it." As part of the processes of WACL, the host of the previous conference provided the president for the next term (in this case it was Raimundo Guerrero of
Los TECOS/FEMACO/CAL) and the hosts were set to be the British chapter in
London for 1973. However, the British representatives, the Foreign Affairs Circle under
Geoffrey Stewart-Smith (a Member of Parliament and leading
Conservative Monday Club figure) entered into a dispute about some of the characters who had been allowed to attend the Mexican-hosted conference, in particular
Jesús Palacios Tapias, from the Barcelona-based
CEDADE, who had appeared in uniform and stated that Marxism was simply a "tool to install the tyranny of the Jews." The idea of such people appearing in London was too much for Stewart-Smith and when some sympathetic Americans sent him the private Possony memos attacking
Los TECOS, he took the issue to the Asian WACL leaders. However, the Taiwanese generally allowed the local chapters to run their own affairs and thus did not interfere with the operations of CAL led by
Los TECOS and in any case, had their own reservations about the sincerity of Anglo-American "anti-communism", appearing more irritated by Stewart-Smith's obstructionism. In the end, the London conference was cancelled and the British chapter footed with a $84,000 bill (they subsequently left WACL). Meanwhile, the Latins rallied around the Mexicans and the light was shined on the American chapter compiling secret hostile reports against other members, which the Latins then used to accuse the
Anglo-Americans of being part a plot to wreck WACL, aiding communism and the Bolivian chapter claimed that the anti-
TECOS memo was a "pro-Zionist document", that "proves what has been said that the American council is one of the instruments of Zionism to control the WACL." Especially among the
TECOS-led Latins and the Asians of WACL in this period, an
anti-imperialism of the right was adopted, suspicious of both "sides" of the
Cold War. ==See also==