Leaked WhatsApp messages obtained by the Miami Herald show that a group chat created by the secretary of the Miami-Dade County Republican Party for conservative students quickly filled with racist slurs, violent rhetoric and extremist references.
The chat, which included student leaders linked to Republican organizations at Florida International University, is now part of an ongoing criminal investigation, according to the university.
The conversations, which took place over roughly three weeks last fall, included the repeated use of racial and antisemitic slurs, derogatory language about women and discussions referencing Adolf Hitler and white supremacist ideology. According to the Herald, variations of the n-word appeared more than 400 times in the chat logs.
One participant, William Bejerano, posted a message describing multiple violent acts against Black people, including "crucifying, beheading and dissecting people." Another participant, Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans recruitment chairman, advises in another passage to "avoid the coloreds like the plague," and said he used the term "colored" because "I was told we cant say black anymore."
The chat also included Ian Valdes, president of FIU's Turning Point USA chapter. At one point he changed the chat's name to "Gooning in Agartha," referencing a mythical underground civilization associated with white supremacist mythology. Gonzalez described Agartha in the chat as "Nazi heaven sort of," while Valdes called it "esoteric nazism essentially."
Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told the Herald that the references suggest familiarity with extremist ideology. "If you're using the term Agartha, you have spent some time reading about white supremacy and Nazis," she said.
Abel Carvajal, the Miami-Dade GOP secretary who created the chat, said he had not closely followed the messages until contacted by the newspaper. "It's been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I've seen this message," he said. Carvajal acknowledged responsibility for starting the group but said he would have removed participants had he seen the violent content earlier.
Miami-Dade Republican Party chairman Kevin Cooper said anyone involved should resign, calling the statements "shocking and appalling."
The episode comes amid broader debates about extremist rhetoric in U.S. politics. In January, union leaders and labor historians accused the Department of Labor of echoing nationalist slogans after posting a video with the caption "One Homeland. One People. One Heritage." The agency said the message was intended to celebrate American workers.
The Department of Homeland Security has also been heavily criticized for using imagery and language drawn from online right-wing meme culture in recruitment campaigns during the Trump administration, including references to defending American "heritage" and "identity." Critics said such messaging risked amplifying extremist narratives, while the agency said at the time that the strategy was meant to reach new audiences online.
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