Mexico City: “Chilangos” gossip about Salinas, Betancourt being gay

Emiliano with Alex Betancourt.

By Frank Parlato

In Mexico City, students of Executive Success Program (ESP) and their friends are gossiping about the sexual orientation of ESP’s two leaders in Mexico, Alex Betancourt and Emiliano Salinas.

The gossip is spreading beyond the corridors of ESP.

The two men operate the Mexico City Center of the secretive success coaching programs created by Keith Raniere, which is known in Mexico as Programas de Éxito Ejecutivo, Inc. and as both Executive Success Programs and NXIVM in the United States.

According to sources, Mr. Salinas and Mr. Betancourt are being ridiculed for being gay in Mexico City. The slang word being used to describe the men are “marica” or “maricon” behind their backs.

While in America, it is considered politically incorrect to denigrate people who have marital, romantic or purely sexual relations with members of their own sex, in Mexico. and particularly in Mexico City, denigration based on sexual orientation is widely practiced and accepted.

Frank Report makes no editorial comment on the culture of either nation.

However, I strongly support the freedom of consenting adults to develop relationships with whomever they chose, preferably without ridicule, and I support the right of free speech for all individuals, even if that speech is sometimes offensive and derogatory.

This report is not intended to ridicule Mr. Salinas or Mr. Betancourt or, conversely, chastise the growing number of people who are gossiping about the two men. This is merely a report on the context of the gossip, and the fact that Mr. Salinas and Mr. Betancourt, who evidently attempted to keep their gay relationship secret, now appear to be the butt of some unflattering gossip.

Frank Report first broke the news of their secret, longstanding gay relationship in July, 2017.

While it was not known to the general public, it was no secret in Clifton Park, the headquarters of  ESP and home of Mr. Raniere.

Scores of ESP students in Clifton Park were aware of the “closet” relationship of their two Mexico City leaders. They were known publicly as business partners who ran the Mexico City Center,  but it was known only privately that the two were partners in love.

After Frank Report broke the story, gossipers in Mexico City started spreading this surprising news outside the circle of ESP students. Mr. Salinas is famous in Mexico and is the son of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas.

Emiliano staked out his own reputation as a sort of macho man and prior to his marriage as a playboy well versed at attracting and pleasing members of the opposite sex.  Few knew about his secret gay life.

Mr. Salinas recently married famous female sex symbol and actress Ludwika Paleta  – which only added to his heterosexual image.

Now, his old reputation is unraveling.

Chilangos [slang for natives of Mexico City] are saying that Mr. Salinas is a classic “chacal” [a gay man who pretends to be a straight, Macho man] and his lover, Mr. Betancourt is his “uma loca” [the passive, effeminate gay partner].

The breaking of the news of Mr. Salinas’ and Mr. Betancourt’s gay relationship, as reported in Frank Report, was not done to ‘out’ the two gay lovers, but rather to help explain the layers of secrecy and control exerted over his followers by ESP leader, Keith Raniere.

Mr. Raniere reportedly brought the two business partners together as a gay lovers to strengthen the Mexican City Center, where large cash payments are made and the money is secreted from Mexico to Clifton Park for Mr. Ranier’s use, according to sources.

Mr. Raniere reportedly suggested the two men keep their relationship secret because Mexicans generally do not approve of homosexuality in that largely Catholic country.

It was reported that Mr. Salinas is bisexual and his marriage to Ms. Paleta was not solely for her to provide a pretense of heterosexuality, or in the common parlance, to be his “beard.”  However, sources in ESP have said that while it is unclear if Mr. Salinas has a sexual relationships with his wife, she is having sexual relationships regularly with other men, some of whom are followers of Keith Raniere.

Normally, this is indicative of the traditional beard relationship – and these same sources say that Mr. Salinas “swings both ways” and has sexual relationships with other women, his wife, other men and his partner, Mr. Betancourt.

Some sources say that Mr. Salinas is as sexually active as his mentor Keith Raniere. While Mr. Salinas is said to “swing both ways”, Mr. Raniere’s sexual exploits tend to be generally heterosexual and veer toward significantly younger females including girls as young as age 12. This has been well documented in an award winning news series in the Albany Times Union.

It is not known if Mr. Salinas is sexually active with teen or pre-teen boys or girls.

The Mexican federal age of consent is 12.

Ironically, both Mr. Salinas [with his wife, Ludwika] and Mr. Betancourt  [with a surrogate mother] have recently announced the birth of twins. That means four children for the couple [three boys and one girl].

Mr. Betancourt openly acknowledged he had a surrogate mother give birth to his twins. Mr. Salinas and Ms. Paleta told the media that Ms. Paleta carried the twins and gave birth. However, reliable sources told Frank Report that a surrogate mother carried the twins of Mr. Salinas and gave birth to them in San Diego, making the Salinas twins American citizens.

Chilangos in the past have called Mr. Salinas, “fresa”, a slang word used to describe a spoiled, and pampered son of a father who has great wealth.

Mr. Salinas’ father, Carlos Salinas, former president of Mexico, by all accounts left office far wealthier than when he was elected. After leaving office, he emigrated from Mexico to England and is said to be one of the richest men on earth, that wealth having been obtained, his critics say, from robbing the nation.

His son, Emiliano remained in Mexico to advance the teaching of his master Vanguard [Mr. Raniere]. Both Emiliano Salinas and his partner, Mr. Betancourt, are reportedly independently wealthy.

Meantime, Chilangos are literally going wild with salacious gossip, adding to it a plethora of derogatory slang words, including calling Mr. Salinas “oso”.  [literally “bear” but slang for a gay man with a lot of body hair] and using the same word, “oso” for a second, double meaning: Que Oso [how embarrassing]. [Embarrassing in Spanish is ’embarzoso, and is sometimes simply ‘oso,’]

Or to translate more colloquially: The bear [Mr. Salinas] embarrasses us. 

Laughter often ensues with these various play on words at Mr. Salinas’ expense.

While surprise and embarrassment is the mockery of the day for Mr. Salinas – suggestive of how he is disgracing Mexico and his family –  the opposite form of mockery is being undertaken with his partner, Mr. Betancourt.

Mr. Salinas is the far more famous of the two.

Recently, lively conversations about Mr. Betancourt are being overheard and often focus on how “obvious” or “noticeable” it is that he is gay. This is curious since prior to Frank Report breaking the news, it was not common knowledge in Mexico City.

Once again there are multiple play on words.

‘Se le nota a ligas’, means, literally “it is noticeable from ‘leagues’. A league is three miles. The inflection of the word “nota” [noticeable] makes it evident that what is meant is that Mr. Betancourt is noticeably gay and that you can detect it at first glance.

The pointed use of the word “obvio” or “obvious”, replete with humorous facial expressions and a faux tone of severity, is now also being overheard and is being used to deride Mr. Betancourt as being gay without using the slang word for gay [maricon or marico].

The point of the jest is not to use the word gay.

For instance:

¿Se le nota?  [Do you notice it?]

No es nada obvio [No it is not obvious]

This is meant to be droll and is meant to mean the opposite of what is stated, i.e.: it is very obvious that he is gay.

This is followed by smiles or derisive laughter.

While Frank Report recognizes it is not effective to preach to people who are enjoying mocking out others, since that only encourages more mockery, this publication regrets that people denigrate others for being different.

Since the mockery and gossip surrounding Mr. Salinas and Mr. Betancourt appears to be growing daily, perhaps the best pathway for the two men is to come “out of the closet”, and show the bravery many American gays made in the last few decades by going public with their being gay.

In America, this paved the way for gay Americans to live with less fear and led to laws protecting them.

As proclaimed leaders of thought and teachers of higher ethics, both Mr. Salinas and Mr. Betancourt might be inclined to take the lead in fostering a more tolerant Mexico. If they came “out of the closet’ and told the world they are gay [or had/have a gay relationship] they will make an ethical and bold stance for the right of all adults to chose who to love and how to love.

 

 

 

 

 

About the author

Frank Parlato

8 Comments

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  • There is NOTHING wrong with being gay or being straight. There is a problem with a sociopathic loser dictating what you should be. I know Keith has done this to several people who have taken ESP. Implanted that they should be with their own sex or the opposite sex if they are gay, etc. And again, nothing wrong with being straight or gay, but having a sociopath tell you what you should be probably isn’t the best.

  • I think the purpose of this particular post was to underscore the lying and deceit that are at the core of the NXIVM operation – which is hardly surprising given that Raniere’s entire life is a lie. The reason there’s so much gossiping about the relationship between Salinas and Betancourt is not because they’re gay. It’s because they’re leaders in an organization that preaches ethics and truth – and yet they hide their sexuality. Sounds to me like they both need a couple more EMs so they can be proud of who and what they are.

  • It has been reported that PEE/ESP students in Mexico pay the usual thousands of dollars for their lessons, and the profits are flown to Albany as cash in Clare’s private jet. But the books in Albany list most of them as having been given free ‘scholarships’. So no tax is paid on the profits.

  • This post clearly needs a Spanish translation. A mechanical translation may not be sufficient to catch all the nuances.

  • Yawn.

    People who care about what this blog puts out every once in a while as being too salacious or gossipy are focusing on irrelevance. This group has been cheating people for almost twenty years and getting away with it for the purposes of stroking the ego and satisfying the sexual fetishes of a charlatan while maintaining a facade of ethics, and this is the concern? What impact did James Odato’s award winning investigative journalistic article do, published over five years ago, an article that is about as classy a written article as they come? While it negatively impacted Not eXamples In Values or Ethics, did it bring the sham down? Did it get any investigation done? Did it get charges filed, or people thrown in jail?

    No wonder the world is fucked up.

  • Yes I agree they should come clean about everything that’s going on behind the scenes. And heads should roll. But using their sexuality as a hot button topic here is low.

    • I completely agree with the comment above. Their sexuality is nobody’s business but their own and “reporting” on it like this is low.

      Frank, if you are genuinely trying to help the people who are really hurting from the bad things that have happened and trying to help prevent others from being hurt, then putting in “articles” like this one really undermines the credibility of what you are reporting. It is hard to know what is blatant gossip and what is actual people’s experiences and truth. I’m sad that you don’t seem to see that and aren’t focused on trying to actually help the people who have been hurt and instead are looking for how many hits your site is getting by putting in things like this (or the made-up “stories”).

      It is unfortunate that this seems to be the only source of “truth” about this whole situation for people who are not involved.

      This type of thing appeals to the gossip site crowd, the ones who want to read about what celebrities are doing and what surgeries they’re getting. Perhaps not to the people looking for personal growth. Those people will likely roll their eyes at reading some of the things you put up and then happily enrol in the courses. If you actually want to help people, then please share about the things that are most concerning. This article makes me feel sorry for these people that you seem to be picking on.

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” Parlato was also credited in the Starz docuseries "Seduced" for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Additionally, Parlato’s coverage of the group OneTaste, starting in 2018, helped spark an FBI investigation, which led to indictments of two of its leaders in 2023.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premiered on May 22, 2022. Most recently, he consulted and appeared on Tubi's "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM," which aired January, 2023.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankparlato@gmail.com

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