How the Proud Boys Gripped the Miami-Dade Republican Party

MIAMI — On the iconic Fontainebleau lodge in Miami Seaside, simply after Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida rallied donors and activists to their ft throughout a well-attended April fund-raiser for the Republican Celebration of Miami-Dade County, a scuffle broke out by the valet parking station. A number of males in fits and a girl in a cocktail gown tussled over who ought to and shouldn’t have been allowed on the $250-a-plate dinner.

Somebody alerted the police. The following day, a girl who had been escorted out of the dinner renewed a request for a restraining order in opposition to one of many males concerned within the dispute, writing in her court docket petition that he was a part of a “Far Proper Wing Extremist Cult.” She was referring to the Proud Boys, the far-right nationalist group that was on the forefront of the riot on the U.S. Capitol final 12 months.

The person was considered one of no less than a half-dozen present and former Proud Boys who’ve secured seats on the Miami-Dade Republican Govt Committee, in search of to affect native politics from the within. Their ranks embrace adherents who face felony expenses for collaborating within the Capitol assault: Gilbert Fonticoba has been charged with obstructing Congress. Gabriel Garcia, a former Military captain who says he has left the group, has been charged with interfering with legislation enforcement officers through the civil dysfunction on Jan. 6, 2021.

The concerted effort by the Proud Boys to affix the management of the social gathering — and, in some instances, run for native workplace — has destabilized and dramatically reshaped the Miami-Dade Republican Celebration that former Gov. Jeb Bush and others constructed right into a powerhouse almost 4 a long time in the past, remodeling it from an archetype of the strait-laced institution to a company roiled by inner battle because it wrestles with forces pulling it to the exhausting proper. The battle comes at a pivotal second for Republicans nationally, as major voters weigh whether or not to wrench the social gathering from its extremist components — or extra absolutely embrace them.

“Sure, we’ve fringe components,” mentioned René García, the chairman of the roughly 125-member Republican committee in Miami-Dade County, who can also be a county commissioner and former state senator. “Sure, we’ve completely different factors of view in our social gathering. That’s how we’re. And my job as Republican chairman is to guard everybody’s First Modification proper, nonetheless unsuitable they might be.”

The Proud Boys spent almost half a decade engaged in typically violent protests throughout the nation over points such because the removing of Accomplice statues and the unsubstantiated unfold of Shariah legislation. After the Capitol assault, nonetheless, as Proud Boys have been being investigated by legislation enforcement and charged with federal crimes, they lowered their profile. The group dissolved its nationwide management and inspired chapters to get entangled in native points, with the objective of amassing help upfront of this 12 months’s midterm elections.

“The plan of assault if you wish to make change is to get entangled on the native stage,” Jeremy Bertino, a outstanding member of the North Carolina Proud Boys, advised The New York Occasions final 12 months within the midst of the shift.

What they intend to do with their energy is unclear. Nonetheless, following a development pushed by far-right figures like Stephen Okay. Bannon, Proud Boys began exhibiting up in school board conferences to protest coronavirus masks mandates and the educating of antiracist curriculum.

In California’s Central Valley, members of the group have intimidated protesters who didn’t need a church to purchase an L.G.B.T.Q.-friendly theater in Fresno. A Proud Boy declared his candidacy for the Oregon Legislature. A former Proud Boy in Kansas misplaced a race for a Topeka Metropolis Council seat.

The Proud Boys’ encroachments into the Miami-Dade Republican Celebration are, by far, the group’s largest political success. The Fontainebleau incident was the newest to trigger unrest throughout the social gathering as a small however rising variety of Proud Boys has deepened present divisions and injected an uncommon diploma of aggression into routine dealings.

Such a rightward shift mirrors the evolution of state and nationwide Republicans however is outstanding for Miami-Dade, Florida’s most populous county, which Democratic presidential candidates have received since 1992. Republicans vastly improved their exhibiting in 2020, a swing that has soured Democrats’ prospects.

Chris Barcenas, a Republican committeeman and Proud Boy, mentioned he began desirous about working for a committeeman seat a couple of 12 months in the past.

“As an alternative of sitting on the sidelines complaining about RINOs or no matter,” he mentioned, referring to “Republicans in title solely,” “I spotted that in an effort to make adjustments, I needed to be concerned and be a part of the method.”

Mr. Barcenas, 34, voluntarily testified a number of months in the past to the Home choose committee investigating the occasions of Jan. 6 about his understanding of the Proud Boys’ position within the Capitol assault. He protested on the Capitol that day however didn’t go into the constructing and has not been charged with any crimes.

Gabriel Garcia, 37, who has pleaded not responsible to the fees from the Capitol assault, mentioned the social gathering was as soon as the province of country-club Republicans.

“I do know lots of people on the committee approach earlier than me have been supporting individuals like Jeb,” mentioned Mr. Garcia, who misplaced a State Home bid in 2020. “However when Trump received, just about everybody began falling in line.”

Requested for an evaluation of the social gathering’s evolving identification, Mr. Bush demurred. “I’m out of social gathering politics and might’t touch upon what’s going on now,” he mentioned.

Miami-Dade Republicans paved the way in which for the social gathering to determine long-term energy in Florida by persuading giant numbers of Cuban Individuals — who had traditionally registered as Democrats — to modify their affiliation, energized by the hard-line anti-Communist politics of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Many ran for workplace, nurturing a technology of Cuban American Republican politicians. Just like the county itself, the social gathering — and now its right-wing flank — is dominated by Hispanics.

For now, longtime social gathering stalwarts stay in management amid an inner energy wrestle, however the inflow of Proud Boys and the radicalization of different members have created appreciable upheaval.

A committeewoman named Barbara Balmaseda not too long ago resigned from a management position after images posted on-line confirmed her within the crowd outdoors the Capitol on Jan. 6. The F.B.I. got here to her home after the assault and requested for an interview, however she declined, in response to her lawyer. Ms. Balmaseda, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, has not commented publicly on the images.

In a press release, Ms. Balmaseda mentioned she resigned to give attention to schoolwork and since the manager committee was “a waste of time since there’s at all times infighting and drama.”

The social gathering’s govt director, Brandon Diaz, who’s Ms. Balmaseda’s boyfriend, additionally resigned, citing a personal sector job. He mentioned he had no position in recruiting or accepting committee members. “I don’t know who’s or who isn’t a Proud Boy,” he mentioned, including that he’s not one.

Each Ms. Balmaseda and Mr. Diaz stay on the board of the Miami Younger Republicans, a membership throughout the social gathering.

Final month, a faction led by the Younger Republicans tried to oust some veteran social gathering leaders, together with Liliana Ros, who has been with the social gathering for greater than 40 years.

“The conferences are a bunch of fights, individuals screaming,” mentioned Ms. Ros, 79. “The good individuals — the respectable individuals, the individuals which can be actual Republicans — are leaving.”

The South Florida chapters of the Proud Boys gained prominence after Enrique Tarrio, who later turned the group’s nationwide chairman, took over in late 2018. Mr. Tarrio now sits in jail in Virginia, charged with conspiracy within the Capitol assault.

The Proud Boys’ dive into South Florida politics started earlier than Jan. 6. A number of members have been elected social gathering committeemen in 2020, and others ran unsuccessfully for legislative and municipal workplace.

One in all them, Pedro Barrios, mentioned in an interview outdoors a polling place within the closely Cuban American metropolis of Hialeah on Election Day that the Proud Boys represented “anti-socialism.”

Mr. Barrios is now a celebration committeeman.

Nelson Diaz, the chairman from 2012 to 2020, recalled preserving far-right activists out of a celebration Christmas celebration in 2018 “due to their standing and fame for being aggressive.”

“I by no means knew who was a member of that group and who wasn’t,” he mentioned.

In October 2018, Mr. Diaz and a few Proud Boys have been concerned in a belligerent protest at a Democratic marketing campaign occasion that includes Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. Home. Mr. Diaz banged on a door — for which he later apologized — as a rowdy mob and the Proud Boys yelled outdoors. Mr. Diaz and the Proud Boys mentioned they didn’t know one another or coordinate their actions.

After that ugly scene, Mr. Diaz mentioned he made social gathering members who had not beforehand signed a Republican loyalty oath surrender their seats.

However the social gathering ranks continued to attract right-wing members. An ex-committeeman, Christopher Monzon, acknowledged that he as soon as was a member of the white supremacist League of the South. In 2017, he was accused of utilizing a Accomplice flag to assault individuals who have been protesting Accomplice avenue names in Hollywood, Fla. He pleaded no contest to aggravated assault and served probation.

Mr. Monzon, now 26 and the vice chairman of the Miami Springs Republican Membership, mentioned he had been on a “path to de-radicalization” and disavowed the racist ideology he beforehand espoused. Nonetheless, when he ran unsuccessfully for the Hialeah Metropolis Council final 12 months, he maintained some ties on-line to a few of his League of the South mates.

He mentioned the Proud Boys within the social gathering assumed he would help them due to his previous views.

“I’ve at all times been often called the novel one, so that they have been like, ‘Yeah, man, we’re going to get extra of our individuals in right here,’” he mentioned.

On-line sleuths, together with a gaggle referred to as Miami In opposition to Fascism, have recognized social gathering members who’re or look like Proud Boys or in any other case affiliated with the far proper and chronicled their social media exercise, revealing connections to nationwide figures and inner quarrels — together with the Fontainebleau altercation on April 22.

It started when a girl who had a restraining order in opposition to Mr. Barcenas confirmed up on the dinner. Additionally current was the girl’s ex-boyfriend, Nowell Salgueiro, one other committeeman, who had a restraining order in opposition to her.

Safety escorted the girl and her husband out. However a buddy of the girl’s and the buddy’s husband remained.

Later that night, the buddy’s husband scrapped with Mr. Barcenas and Mr. Salgueiro. The buddy mentioned in court docket filings and in an interview that when she went outdoors to pay the valet she was additionally confronted by Mr. Salgueiro, whom she recognized as a Proud Boy. He declined to remark.

Within the days after, extra accusations and petitions flew in court docket. On April 27, a West Miami Police officer served Mr. Salgueiro with restraining orders. He discovered him on the month-to-month assembly of the Miami-Dade Republican Celebration.

Kitty Bennett contributed analysis.