Mexico to Investigate Los Angeles Police
Abuses of Mexicanos
Hector Carreon
La Voz de Aztlan
Los Angeles, Alta California - April 19, 2001 - (ACN) La Voz de Aztlan has learned that the Secretary of Foreign Relations of Mexico, Jorge Castaņeda, has appointed a high level commissioner to investigate the large number of Mexicanos whose human rights were abused by the notorious and now disbanded CRASH Units of the Los Angeles Police Department. This is an additional fallout from one of the worst corruption scandals in the history of U.S. law enforcement and an unprecedented action by the government of Mexico in its efforts to protect its citizens.
The special commissioner, whose name was not given, will be working out of the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles which is located in the Pico-Union area and only a few blocks from the now infamous Rampart Division Station of the LAPD. The special commissioner will be in charge of investigating the hundreds of cases involving corrupt LAPD officers who planted evidence, intimidated witnesses and falsified police reports in order to secure the convictions of Mexican youths. One officer of Puerto Rican descent by the name of Rafael Perez is already in prison for his crimes and three more were convicted by a jury only to have a corrupt judge dismiss the case. Another officer by the name of Nino Durden has recently pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
The government of Mexico has now retained U.S. attorneys for the possibility of bringing civil actions against the LAPD. There has already been multi-million dollars settlements for U.S. citizens who suffered similar abuses by the police. The payouts have stressed the city's budget and the potential suits by Mexico on behalf of its citizens may cause even greater monetary problems for the city. This is at a time when the homeless population is increasing and when the city's infrastructure is collapsing as was demonstrated by the collapse of the city managed "Angel's Flight" that killed one person and injured scores of others. Also, a few months ago, in the Pico-Union area, a large apartment complex fell on top of dozens of families also killing one and injuring scores of others.
The courageous actions of the government of Mexico will have great indirect benefits for Chicanos who are routinely abused by the police as well. The elected government representatives, of the Pico-Union area, have done very little to protect their constituents. They are all Chicanos but belong to the corrupt Democratic Party. Pico-Union is represented, at all levels of government, by Chicano Democrats. This party is now totally corrupt. The city councilman of this part of town was caught buying cocaine from his constituents. The county supervisor, congressman, state senator and the assemblyman, who now is in a runoff for mayor of the city, were all criticized for accepting money from the father of a notorious crack cocaine dealer. This is the same case where the brother-in-law of Democratic President Bill Clinton received $200,000 to lobby for the pardoning of the crack cocaine trafficker. Bill Clinton released from prison the notorious Carlos Vignali after the lobbying of all the above including Cardinal Rogelio Mohoney. These politicians have been very quiet about the human rights abuses of their Chicano constituents, but they "jumped" to lobby for Carlos Vignali after they were given money.
One of the most disturbing cases is one involving a Mexican family in the southwest part of the city. A youth by the name of Catarino Gonzalez has been accused of killing an LAPD CRASH officer by the name of Filbert Cuesta. We believe that Catarino Gonzalez was framed in the same way that another youth by the name of Javier Ovando was framed by the CRASH Units. La Voz de Aztlan has interviewed Catarino's mother and sister. Our publication has an article with the title "Who Killed Officer Cuesta?" on our website. The mother and father are from Zacatecas, Mexico but we are not sure where Catarino was born. We hope that the Mexican government takes interest in this case for the sake of the father and mother who are citizens of Mexico. The family needs a lot of assistance that they are not getting from their local government representatives including Supervisor Gloria Molina who said, "After all they are not the pillars of the community!"
A Historical Perspective of the Problem
Mexicanos abused by the infamous Texas Rangers
