- The study identifies networks of influence among Spanish actors such as Vox, CitizenGO and Opus Dei, and conservative sectors in countries such as Argentina, Chile, El Salvador and Guatemala.
A new international report warns of the growing articulation between the Spanish ultra-right and conservative actors in Latin America and Africa, with a common goal: to undermine sexual and reproductive rights (SRR), activate disinformation campaigns and gain influence in key public institutions.
Titled “From Spain to the world: the global projection of the Spanish ultra-right against sexual and reproductive rights.”The study was prepared by a team of journalists, activists and academics between 2023 and 2025. It analyzes in detail the strategic, discursive and organizational links of actors such as Vox, CitizenGO, Opus Dei, Political Network for Values (PNfV) and Hazte Oír; and their influence in countries such as Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile and Kenya.
“The report confirms what many organizations had already identified: there are actors who are part of a transnational project that strategically attacks sexual and reproductive rights in order to impose authoritarian and anti-democratic agendas,” said Héctor Alexis Hernández González, head of analysis at Ipas Latin America and the Caribbean (Ipas LAC), an organization that contributed to the report.said Héctor Alexis Hernández González, head of analysis at Ipas Latin America and the Caribbean (Ipas LAC), the organization that contributed to the report.
Among the most salient findings, the report reveals:
- The consolidation of transnational conservative networks that articulate resources, legal strategies and digital disinformation to block legislative advances in sexual and reproductive health.
- Spain’s role as a strategic hinge between Europe and Latin America by exporting ultraconservative agendas from its territory to the region, articulating ideological and political networks under the umbrella of a neocolonial narrative: the so-called “Iberosphere”; especially on issues such as abortion, sex education and LGBTIQ+ rights.
- The use of the “gender ideology” discourse as a political tool to misinform, influence electoral processes and impose anti-democratic strategies that undermine access to rights.
Cases such as the absolute criminalization of abortion in El Salvador, the articulation of CitizenGO in the campaigns against abortion in Argentina, or the influence of Opus Dei in Guatemalan society are analyzed in depth in the study.
“The rollback of sexual and reproductive rights is not an isolated phenomenon. It is intimately linked to institutional capture, democratic weakening and the advance of hate speech. In the face of this, we need global responses in an articulate manner,” said Gillian Kane, director of thesaid Gillian Kane, Ipas director of global policy and advocacy.
Resistance and strategic recommendations
Despite the worrying panorama, the research shows that resistance is possible. Feminist, LGTBIQ+ and human rights movements have managed to stop setbacks with massive mobilizations, such as the response to the abortion reform in Spain (2012-2014), and with judicial victories in Mexico and Colombia.
The report stresses the need for transnational, creative and sustained responses, including:
- Recognition and protection of women defenders of sexual and reproductive rights.
- Strategic litigation with an intersectional perspective.
- Denouncement of anti-gender political and financial networks that sustain the offensive.
- Construction of powerful feminist and pedagogical narratives.
- Defense of democratic institutions and blocking of public funds to regressive groups.
The research is available in Catalan, Spanish and English and can be downloaded free of charge here. The organization encourages the media, journalists and social agents to disseminate the results as a key tool to counteract right-wing extremist discourse, defend sexual and reproductive rights at a global level and halt the advance of the far right.