Born into a landowning family and partly educated at a seminary, Abascal was sympathetic to the Cristeros from an early age. As a result he passed through a variety of Roman Catholic counterrevolutionary organisations during the 1930s. He joined the National Synarchist Union in 1937 and became an organiser in Michoacán, before taking full charge of the movement in 1940 when it was at its peak with 500,000 members. Accused of Nazism by opponents, he officially denounced the system, although he was noted for his anti-Semitism. An unpopular figure with moderates, he was replaced as leader by Torres Bueno in 1941 and left to set up a sinarquista commune in Baja California. This scheme proved unsuccessful, and by 1944, Abascal had been expelled from the sinarquista movement for clashing with it