The “Gringos VIP” are a team of three Bad Ass wrestlers terrorizing the world of Lucha Libre south of the border. The only true “Gringo” is “Gringo Loco” (i.e., crazy white dude), the gentleman with the long hair and red bandanna standing to the right side of the above photo.
To fulfill his evil plot to punish and humiliate his Mexican opponents, Gringo Loco recruited two Mexican partners — Hijo del Diablo (the larger wrestler with the goatee) and Avisman. He convinced them both to reject their homeland and embrace the red, white, and blue, to turn against their own people and take on the persona of villain, oppressor or invader, inflicting pain and humiliation on their fellow Mexicans.
Probably the Mexican fans despise Avisman and Diablo even more than the Gringo himself because they are traitors to La Raza, wearing red, white, and blue and placing a hand on their hearts as they listen to Gringo Loco sing about what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming.
I believe Diablo and Avisman may represent the vicious Mexican drug lords whose greed drives them to hurt and kill their own people in order to supply the heartless Gringos with illegal contraband.
The Gingos VIP are the typical loud, brash, aggressive American capitalists, using dirty tricks to get their way and to dominate the world. Their team name — “Gringos VIP” — implies that they think they are “Very Important People,” better than their humble Mexican opponents.
The Gringos VIP, decked out in matching red, white, and blue gear like Captain America, cheat like mother fuckers and destroy their hapless, law-abiding opponents without mercy.
They often work three against one, triple teaming with impunity. This perhaps reflects the negative perception of America as exploiter, polluter, or cruel overlord. Certainly the tensions along the border related to deportation and illegal immigration have fueled the hatred that these cheaters are stirring up in their Mexican audiences.
The Gringos never miss a chance to talk trash and verbally insult the Mexican wrestlers and fans, using racist terms like “Wet Back” and threatening pain if they dare to cross north of the border.
I’ve tried to capture the tone of their degrading comments in the speech bubbles.
Why do the Mexican fans show up week after week only to watch their heroes beaten, emasculated, and humiliated by the cheating Gringos?
Psychologists believe that victims of discrimination often begin to buy into the negative perceptions of their oppressors and develop Internalized Racism. This leads the oppressed people to doubt themselves, to insult or bicker with their own countrymen, to reject their own culture and traditions in favor of the dominant culture, to try to look and act more like the oppressors. They may even gain a certain satisfaction from seeing someone of their own race punished or degraded by someone from the dominant culture. Certainly the defection by Avisman and Diablo, joining forces with Gringo Loco, represents the efforts by some oppressed people to become more like their oppressors — they want to escape their own culture, to shed their skin.
In terms of wrestling fans who are experiencing internalized racism, they fully expect and almost crave the weekly beatings they witness in the ring by Gringo Loco and his henchmen on their fellow Mexicans. They may not outwardly cheer for the Gringos as heroes, but on some level, they want to see other Mexicans suffer at the hands of the Gringos because negative attitudes have become internalized. The Gingos VIP are scratching a masochistic itch for the Mexican audience, fulfilling their expectation that their own people will be exploited and abused by a stronger nation, and perhaps deserve it.
So week after week, the Mexican wrestlers parade to the ring to willingly take their beatings from the crazy Gringos. Week after week, the fans crowd into the arena to watch with tears in their eyes as their traditions are spit upon. (And they love it!)
When one Mexican is caught in the ring for three-on-one abuse by the Gringos, his partners often won’t lend a hand to rescue him. The referees (who are also Mexican) look the other way and refuse to enforce the rules as the dirty Gringos illegally punish their Mexican victims.
All of these actions depict the effects of Internalized Racism, which prevents the oppressed people from banding together to fight back against their oppressors. The submissive, helpless attitude of the wrestler in the ring, absorbing the unfair antics and unrelenting abuse of the Gringo Locos, symbolizes the helpless obedience of the people in general, allowing themselves to be trampled and abused by a dominant foreign culture.
To be continued…
With beard, tattoos and tights Hijo del Diablo ticks all my boxes.