By Maria Tsvetkova
NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) – A Florida university said on Thursday law enforcement is investigating a Miami Herald report that prominent members of the local Republican Party and conservative student leaders exchanged racist, antisemitic and homophobic messages in an online group chat.
The Herald reported on Wednesday that leaked logs of a WhatsApp group chat that began in the autumn showed participants included Republicans such as Abel Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade County’s Republican Party, and student leaders of Florida International University’s Turning Point USA chapter, a conservative youth group founded by slain activist Charlie Kirk.
Florida International University President Jeanette Nunez said in a statement on Thursday that the university “does not and will not tolerate violence, hate, discrimination, harassment, racism or antisemitism.”
She said the allegations are being investigated by the Miami university’s police department with local, state and federal law enforcement. FIU is a state-funded university known for its engineering and business programs.
One participant in the exchanges, William Bejerano, posted a lengthy message proposing dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, whom he described using a racial slur, including beheading and crucifixion, the Herald reported.
The newspaper said Bejerano hung up when he was reached by a reporter seeking comment. He did not immediately reply to a message from Reuters sent over social media.
Dariel Gonzalez, who was at the time recruitment chair of the College Republicans, used a slur to refer to Jewish people and said it was fine to have sex with Jews. “Just don’t marry them and procreate,” he wrote.
The group chat was started for conservative students by Carvajal, who participated occasionally and deleted some messages, according to the newspaper.
Carvajal told the Herald he did not see the racist messages when they were posted and was shocked when he read them. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Kevin Cooper, the chair of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade County, condemned the group chat in a statement on Thursday and said the party’s board had started proceedings to remove Carvajal.
Late last year, three controversies involving leaked text messages from private online group chats rocked U.S. political circles, revealing racist, antisemitic and violent statements from figures across the ideological spectrum. Right-wing U.S. think tank the Heritage Foundation saw more than a dozen staff leave in December amid allegations from former supporters that it aligned itself with those accused of antisemitism.
Researchers say that participants in group chats can feel a false sense of privacy and safety despite the fact that the messages form a permanent record and can be leaked. WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta Platforms, actively promotes its privacy protections and end-to-end encryption.
(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova in New York; Editing by Donna Bryson and Cynthia Osterman)
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