SAN DIEGO.- Ten cities of the United States became one voice to demand justice in the case of Anastasio Hernández, who was assassinated two years ago in the hands of federal agents at Puerta Mexico.
Family, activists and members con the community took the streets of Downtown San Diego as a sign of protest, demanding answers in the death of the Mexican.
At the same time, the event took place in Miami, Boston, San Francisco, Las Cruces, Calexico, Alburquerque and McAllen. It is estimated that 700 people remembered Anastasio in their current cities.
In San Diego, the movement went from Balboa Park to the Hall of Justice where with the light of candles, hundreds of people accompanied the family of the Mexican migrant.
María de la Luz Rojas, mother of Anastasio Hernández, traveled all the way from San Luis Potosí in Mexico to be part of this activity.
"I just want to thank the community for their support" she said. "Our fight will go on, it's been two years and we don't have any answers, I believe the new evidences are quite clear", she mentioned based on the new video that was broadcasted nationwide by the PBS Network.
On "Mother's Day", María will be at the Congress in Washington, asking for new reports on the investigation that is being made by the US Department of Justice.
Also, Daisy Hernárndez, daughter of Anastasio, recognized that she hasn't seen the video where a dozen agents torture her father and assured that with her family, they will fight until justice was made.
"These officers destroyed a family" she emphasized. "We want a punishment for them and to remove them from their respective offices, I demand justice for my father" she added.
Next to the mother and daughter of Anastasio, his brothers and widow, María Puga, were there. María Puga has leader a national campaign to recollect signatures and ask for a stop in the cases of abuse made by the Border Patrol.
Until today, the petition hosted at Presente.org has recollected over 32 thousand signatures.
"This isn't only for my husband, we are a lot of families who have lost our love ones with those agents, the fight doesn't stop here and we are going to keep on going until the case is resolved" declared Hernández's widow.
We are all Anastasio! Was the recurrent phrase during the march since according to the activist Christian Ramírez, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition, "what happened to Anastasio, could have occurred to anyone".
To communicate the message in a clearer way, the participants of the protest had an identical hat to one that Anastasio had and can be seen in the photograph of the immigrant used during all the campaign.
"We asked Maria how did she remembered Anastasio and she mentioned that with his hat so we searched for it and we use it as a symbol of the cause", added Ramírez.
He also mentioned his disappointment since even after the new video that shows the agents attacking Anastasio without him fighting back, the Department of Justice hasn't had any reactions.
"The lack of answers worries us but we won't stop until our voices are heard and justice comes".
The case of Anastasio adds to other eight deaths of Mexicans in the border in the last three years, all of them in the hands of us agents without any kind of punishment for them.
alexandra.mendoza@sandiegored.com
Original Text : Alexandra Mendoza
Translation : Brenda Colón
