Last August, Univision released a news report on Juan Cadavid, a Colombian immigrant from Southern California who joined the alt-right movement. Andres Caballero, producer at NPR’s “Latino USA,” was immediately intrigued – how could Cadavid, who had once been an active member of the far-left have changed sides so drastically?
Setting up an interview, which Cadavid agreed to, Caballero set out to answer the question as best he could. Cadavid, who now goes by “Johny Benitez” was born and raised in the United States in a low-income household.
He claims he got rejected by the Spanish speaking Latinos which populated his neighborhood, who assumed he was privileged because of his lighter skin-tone and loose grasp of their native language.
During his interview, Benitez emphasizes on his having more “Iberian” or “European” features. He claims that he is nearly positive that he has no “indigenous blood” in his genetic makeup.
Unable to identify himself as either wholly Colombian or white, he would disappear into bookshelves, starting to read scripts such as “The Communist Manifesto” at an early age.
Benitez donated money to the Bernie Sanders campaign and began his transformation into becoming very politically active, first leaning towards the progressive activist movement. He’d go on to join protests and street rallies such as the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.
It was in this movement where he first made contact with Malcolm X and Black Nationalism ideologies. He would later say that it profoundly influenced his later way of thinking.
All was going well until he hit a bump on his ideology road. Someone said the Occupy Movement was supportive of the Transgender Movement, which he was against, and after being called a bigot for it, he got excommunicated.
The reveal of Benitez as an alt-right believer was dramatic. First making up fake identities on Facebook to come into contact with a variety of leftist organizations, sharing radical plans concerning breaking and infiltrating into the Alt-Right Movement.
After an article in the OC Weekly was released, painting him as a potential infiltrator to both groups, he also got kicked out of the alt-right. Still, Benitez stands by white supremacy ideals.
He supports Donald Trump at rallies and recites the 14 words most white supremacists cherish most: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
But what does that mean to him? Benitez identifies the Alt-Right’s goal as returning the United States to its Nordic-Anglo-European descent. He agrees with it but also wishes to include the Roman-Spanish culture.
This article was inspired by LATINO USA // When a Latino Tries to Join the ‘Alt-Right’