Festival organizers distance themselves from far-right groups
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In Mexico, the organizers of the Cultural Festival Paseo del Pendón cancelled their 2026 event after groups identifying with far-right ideologies began sharing and supporting their promotional materials online.
Gerardo Tovar, a member of the festival’s organizing committee, explained the festival aims to demonstrate the evolution and resistance of indigenous cultures during the viceroyalty period.
He and fellow organizers Daniel Pérez Mendoza and Jorge Bertín Nicolás Salazar clarified they have no connection to reactionary organizations and seek to challenge extremist narratives surrounding the historical “pendón” banner. The committee had previously held the festival from 2021 to 2025, but faced criticism online for depicting indigenous people in a commemoration of the Conquest and being labelled as “hispanistas.” Tovar noted that what were once minor criticisms became amplified through social media.
They had attempted to control the spread of their event information through channels they did not authorize, but were unable to identify the groups responsible. The festival organizers also planned a commemoration of the San Patricio Battalion, but cancelled that event due to logistical issues. Salazar, an archaeologist of Nahua descent, emphasized that their historical re-enactments help dismantle myths and offer a concrete study of history as an antidote to ideological manipulation.
The cancellation of the festival in Mexico City represents a significant loss of a key forum for historical discussion, though the controversy prompted the city’s Historical Archive to open its collection relating to the Paseo del Pendón to the public.
