Cristero Memory Reloaded: History, Social Media, and the New Christian Right in Mexico

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the reverberations of the Cristero War in the discourses, symbols, and practices of Mexico’s new Christian right as expressed in the social media communications produced and consumed by right-wing leaders and their supporters. Via social media, new Christian right leaders have purposefully used Cristero symbols of piety, martyrdom, sacrificial violence, and religious militancy to appeal to a sector of Mexican society that sees the Cristero War as an unresolved conflict and an ongoing struggle between a Catholic nation and an impious state. While the new Christian right has been unable to advance its agenda via formal or electoral politics, its growing presence on social media and localized grassroot movements, next to its transnational reach (via connections with MAGA leaders in the United States), point to its rising significance in a country that has thus far remain exempt from the ascent of the far right in the Latin American region.