Last week I sat with Maria Puga as she watched the PBS "Need to Know" episode of an investigation into the brutal beating, tasing and subsequent death of her husband and the father of their 5 children, Anastasio Hernandez Rojas. They had been together for decades when he was deported and then killed by U.S. border officials in May of 2010. I watched her as she sat next to her in laws. They held onto each other and listened and saw the gruesome details of border official brutality and torture. I helped to uncover the videotape that showed over a dozen border officers repeatedly beating a subdued man while he was on the ground. Hernandez Rojas was handcuffed and hogtied. Border officials used a taser, beat him with billy clubs as well as kicked and punched him repeatedly. The family members, while they watched, averted their eyes, hunched over in pain and cried.
In total, U.S. border officials have killed at least eight border residents in the past two years. Some of the victims were undocumented, three were standing in Mexico and two were U.S. citizens. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice have kept the details of the investigations secret. For a year, I tried to publicize the disturbing case of Hernandez Rojas and seven other victims of border patrol related shootings. I struggled to find a news agency willing to run this story. I had videotape evidence of a man being beaten to death by federal officers and national media was not interested. I am grateful to Need to Know for having the courage to produce the episode as well as The Nation Institute for helping to fund my investigation but I couldn't stop thinking about why other national media outlets were not willing to air this story. Is the brutal killing of an undocumented immigrant by U.S. officers less important than Rodney King or Trayvon Martin?
After the videotape evidence of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas was released on Friday, April 20 there was some national press reaction. Some local affiliates and national cable networks picked up the story for a day and aired the gruesome video but where was national NBC, CBS or ABC? Where was FOX News? Where were the primetime cable shows? More importantly, where was the Latino community or the Mexican government? One of our own was tortured and killed and we have a videotape to prove it yet we remained silent.
I have been a resident of Los Angeles for 25 years. I remember the Rodney King video. I remember the reaction from the community and the press coverage and of course I remember the riots. Rodney King survived his brutal beating and today, he speaks out against racism and police brutality. Anastasio Hernandez Rojas did not survive. He left behind his wife, Maria Puga and five children. Since his death nearly two years ago, Maria has attended numerous press conferences and has helped to organize rallies and marches all in the hope of receiving justice. She is not a professional spokesperson. She doesn't speak English. She is a widow and spends most of her time working and struggling to raise her children. A few strong organizations like the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC), Presente.org and American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) have taken up her cause but where is NCLR, MALDEF, LULAC and NALEO? Where is the Catholic Church? Where is the Hispanic Caucus? These organizations have been powerful advocates for the Latino community in the past but so far have remained silent about the homicide of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas.
On Wednesday, May 3, Maria Puga will travel to Los Angeles and meet with the wife of another border agent brutality victim, Shena Wilson. In March of 2011, her husband, Jose Gutierrez Guzman was tased and beaten by border officials and left in a coma. Wilson had to quit nursing school to tend to her husband's injuries and care for their two children. Maria Puga and Shena Wilson, will hold a press conference to raise awareness and ask the Obama administration and the Department of Justice to prosecute the unresolved cases of violence against border residents. Presente.org, SBCC and AFSC are supporting their efforts with petitions, letters to congress and days of action across the country. Maria Puga will return to San Diego and lead a candlelight vigil in honor of the 8 recent victims killed by border officials. (See details)
I applaud the efforts of the Latino community's long sustained fight for equality and justice. I am proud that the Latino community may cast the deciding vote for many key races in this election season. But if we cannot pressure media to play the damming video of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas on a loop or force the Department of Justice to investigate a two-year old case then we have no power at all. If we cannot focus our collective energy to help Maria Puga, the grieving widow, then we should look at our priorities. The fight for justice begins at home by defending our loved ones. Our strength as the Latino community is our family. Eight families have been destroyed by border officer violence. If the Latino community is going to decide who will be the next president of the United States, we better first decide that a mother's pain and cry for justice is just as important and worthy of our support.
Follow John Carlos Frey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/johncarlosfrey
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There is one main reason this is not front news - Latinos/Hispanics are second class citizens in America. Every Latino and Hispanic is thought to be here illegally. We are all grouped and defined as "Mexican". We have no real leaders at the presidential level.
It’s not till we Latinos make up a larger majority that we will effective change. This is what most politicians are scared of. Latino control. This is the reason we are now seeing an ever increasing hostile immigration policy out of states like Arizona and Alabama. The proof is in the pudding, our elected leaders are trying to keep America White.
I live in Texas and to say that all Latinos are thought to be illegals is more than absurd, it is an outright lie. Just because it suits you to say that does NOT mean it is true which is why you have so few people getting upset about this case. We do not still live in the 60 and 70s where there were such problems. If you wish to see real second class citizenship, I suggest YOU move to Mexico and become a naturalized citizen and THEY will teach you something about that. You will be barred from running for any elective office, will not be able to get any governmental job such as police, firefighter, etc.. You will not be able to go to public universities with the same rights as native born Mexicans, etc..
You also missed the defeat of Rep. Ortiz in his re-election bid by an Anglo, Farenthold, in a district that is 70% Hispanic. If a Democrat cannot win in those conditions, your idea that more Hispanics will solve things is wrong.
The IDLOA annual BORDERCROSSING CELEBRATION is ALWAYS THE THIRD SATURDAY IN JULY ...alternating from each side of the settlers' border.
So this coming year:
85nd Annual Border Crossing Celebration
The IDLA membership would like to formally invite you to join us in our annual Free Border Crossing to celebrate our Treaty and Inherent Rights as Indigenous Peoples at the Border.
SATURDAY JULY 21TH, 2012
CONTACT US AT:
Beverly Hill (President) (716)297-5297
Indian Defence League of America
PO Box 305
Niagara Falls NY, 14302
Contact us at idla@live.com for more information!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13902305963
Contact us at idla@live.com for more informatio
n!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13902305963
“Basic Call to Consciousness”.
http://www.idloa.org/pages/deskaheh.html
see also:
http://http-server.carleton.ca/~domarsha/4302/LeagueofIndianNations.pdf
http://www.eculturalresources.com/news/990.html
The reason why you won't see the main stream media play the video being mentioned is because most people don't care.
I know it sounds crude and even harsh, but people would say "come here legally."
You have 65% of the US people agreeing with SB 1070, when have you seen such a huge number of people agree to anything by that level ?
I agree with you, but I came here legally, from a country whose immigrations laws are downright brutal. I guess I lack empathy with this issue, because I followed the law. It is such a shame that others could not follow in my footsteps.
If but/for the meth use, there is a chance Rojas would be alive today.
sign the petitions to Holder and Obama at:
http://act.presente.org/sign/anastasio/?source=presente_website
http://signon.org/sign/justice-for-anastasio
From all the evidence his proponents provide, he was NOT a model prisoner and fought the guards at every chance. The reason the BP agent had to kick the inside of his foot and ankle was that he refused to place his feet apart so that they could do a pat down search. That is standard procedure by the way, and shows his combative response. Then we find he was using drugs, though whether or not it was enough to affect him, he still had shown combative actions in the past.
So there is no question that the fight and tazing caused his death, the FACT is HE was the initiator in all those cases. It is a real stretch for any pro-illegal group to make a case for him being a good law abiding citizen.
In fact, all we know is that Mr. Rojas was tased by the BP and wrestled to the ground. All we know is what is in the tapes, so pls stop trying to aggravate an already sensitive situation.
Whether or not he was a "good, law-abiding citizen" isn't relevant, and the fact that he wasn't a model prisoner hardly justifies the brutality and the above-the-law approach exhibited here and which seems to be the norm for law enforcement agencies these days. It's part of a wider trend in which law enforcement agencies are turning into heavily-armed paramilitary forces. Whether it's the "war on drugs" or the "war against illegal immigration", our law enforcement agenices believe they're at war. Woe to those that happen to end up as their enemy. It's not you yet, but it may be some day.
Law officers are human too and when their job involves daily abuse and the immediate threat of injury or death, reaching the point where they may snap is fairly easy. Add that to the fact that the country across the fence would like things to go back to the way they were in 1840, and you have a very volatile mixture. It's bound to boil over sometimes.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/04/26/arturo-carmona-who-killed-anastasio-hernandez-rojas/