<> LA VOZ DE AZTLAN NEWS BULLETIN <>
<>.<>.<> Los Angeles, Alta California <>.<>.<>
April 12, 2006
Border Vigilantes "Torch" Mexican Restaurant
Just before midnight on Monday, racist anti-Mexican
vigilantes torched Mariachi's Mexican Bar and Grill at 12868 Campo Road located about 15 miles east of downtown San Diego and about 12 miles north of the US/Mexico border. The
vigilantes left vile anti-Mexican graffiti painted in red on
the walls. The racist profanities left on the walls are
similar to those sent by e-mail to the Mexica Movement and
to La Voz de Aztlan recently.
According to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, the vigilantes broke an outside window, poured gasoline inside and then set the restaurant on fire. Border vigilantes have vowed to start a civil war against Mexicans through radio and through their websites. On April 9 they also torched a Mexican flag in front of the Mexican consulate in Tucson.
The owner of the restaurant, Leilanie Ontiveros, said she had received racist threats through the telephone. "We left a little after 11 p.m., got a phone call that said racial things and we hung up," said Ontiveros. Someone called the restaurant and spewed venom against Mexicans. Ontiveros said she and her family disregarded the call and worked at the restaurant until about 11 p.m.
The initial call to the fire department came from a US Border Patrol agent. The unidentified border patrol agent said that he spotted the flames, grabbed a garden hose and started spraying.
Surveillance cameras at the strip mall showed two vehicles
pass through the parking lot about the time that the vigilantes set the fire. One was a black vehicle and is
quite identifiable. A video surveillance camera and a
motion-activated camera shows two vans moving through the
lot at 11:43 p.m
Leilanie Ontiveros, her mother and brother have owned the restaurant for a little over two years. Ontiveros has been a resident of the community for 13 years. The family's origins are from Durango, Mexico..
“It's very shocking,” said Ontiveros. “To see that type of slander said about us is hard.” The fire came a day after a massive march and rally in downtown San Diego seeking rights for Latino immigrants.
The suburban areas around the City of San Diego have a shameful racist history. These areas are known as North County, East County and South County. Many of the residents in these area are fleeing Los Angeles and San Diego where Mexican and Latino populations predominate. When they start feeling squeezed between growing Mexican population to the north and the US/Mexico to the south, they act out in perverse ways.
Anyone with information concerning the torching of the restaurant should call the San Diego Sheriff's Bomb/Arson Unit at (619) 956-4980 or after hours call the Sheriff's Communication Center at (858)565-5200.
Related La Voz de Aztlan Articles:
Mexican Migrant Workers Savagely Attacked by Racists in San Diego, California
Open Letter to the San Diego Police Chief
Vigilantes bludgeoned Mexican mother and daughter in Fremont, California
Heinous hate murders of undocumented Mexican immigrants on the rise
Racists assault a Mexican female student at Michigan State University
Vigilantism at the US/Mexico Border May Spread Northward
