Salvador Abascal Infante | |
|---|---|
 Abascal,c. 1940 | |
| Leader of theNational Synarchist Union | |
| In office 1940–1941 | |
| Preceded by | Manuel Zermeño |
| Succeeded by | Manuel Torres Bueno |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1910-05-18)18 May 1910 Morelia,Mexico |
| Died | 30 March 2000(2000-03-30) (aged 89) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Political party | National Synarchist Union |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 12, including: Salvador Abascal Carranza Carlos María Abascal Juan Bosco Abascal Carranza |
| Alma mater | Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo |
Salvador Abascal Infante (18 May 1910 – 30 March 2000) was a Mexican politician and leading exponent ofMexican synarchism. For a time, he was the leader of theNational Synarchist Union (UNS). Abascal represented the orthodoxCatholic tendency within the movement.[1]
Born inMorelia into a landowning family, Abascal was the fourth of eleven children.[2] Partly educated at aseminary, Abascal was sympathetic to theCristeros from an early age.[3] Indeed, his father was a member of the Popular Union, the Cristero party.[4] As a result of these sympathies Abascal passed through a variety ofRoman Catholiccounterrevolutionary organisations during the 1930s.[3]
He would complete his education at theUniversidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo where he graduated with a law degree in 1931, subsequently serving as a judge inAyutla.[5] He was dismissed as a judge in 1933 after falling foul of local bosses when he made judgements in favour of claimants to land.[5]
He was a founder member of the UNS in 1937 and became an organiser inMichoacán, before taking full charge of the movement in 1940 when it was at its peak with 500,000 members.[3] Abascal succeeded Manuel Zermeño as leader, after Zermeño was removed from the movement for concluding an agreement with the government ofAvila Camacho without securing approval of the UNS membership.[6]
Accused ofNazism by opponents, Abascal officially denounced the system, although he was noted for hisanti-Semitism.[3] He was also noted for his opposition to electoral politics and rejected any attempts to convert the UNS into apolitical party.[2] Instead Abascal called for 'Catholic social order' as the antithesis to his two most hated ideologies -Marxism andliberal democracy - both of which he felt were closely related.[7] He also resisted attempts byManuel Gómez Morín to fuse the UNS with theNational Action Party in 1939 as a result of these convictions.[8]
An unpopular figure with moderates, he was replaced as leader byManuel Torres Bueno in 1941 and left to set up asinarquista commune inBaja California.[3] The colony, known asMaria Auxiliadora, was initially made up of some 86 families (450 people).[9] It has been claimed that Abascal, who stated that he was inspired byGod andThomas Aquinas in his actions, was driven byMillenarianism in leading his followers into what was a hostile desert climate.[1] However the scheme proved unsuccessful, and by 1944, Abascal had been expelled from thesinarquista movement for clashing with its leadership over the failure of the colonisation.[3]
He returned in 1947 and became something of a grand old figure in the movement, even being considered as a potential candidate for thepresidency in 1955 (although he declined the offer).[3] Increasingly drawn towardsintegralism, he set up the publishing houseEditorial la Tradition in the late 1970s to produce works on this subject, as well as his memoirsMis Recuerdos.[3] He published his own newsletter,La Hoja del Combate, into the 1990s. The publication was noted for giving space to the ideas of the revisionist writerSalvador Borrego.[10]
At 31, Abascal met 16 year old Maria Guadalupe Carranza Pulido while inLos Angeles in 1940. They developed a courtship that lasted two years. They married on 17 March 1942, on the Sinarquist communeMaría Auxiliadora.[11]
Abascal had 12 children in total.[12] Their first born son, born on the sinarquist commune on 11 March 1943, was Juan Bosco Abascal Carranza. Juan Bosco would go on to be a professor of psychology, published author and a YouTube personality.[11] Their second born, the lateCarlos Abascal, was theSecretary of the Interior in the government ofVicente Fox whilst another son, Salvador Abascal Carranza also followed a career in politics, serving as a federal deputy from 1991 to 1994, both for theNational Action Party.[5]
