By Sol Marquez, Gabriel Quiroz Jr and Fátima Austin
Los Angeles, CA – “Thank you to all for the support of the Teamster and beloved Centro CSO member Sam Carrera. Through the combined hard work, the LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman rejected the case against Carrera. Carrera was one of three arrested by LAPD on February 18,” noted a statement from the Chicano community group Centro Community Service Organization.
Los Angeles, CA – On Thursday, February 19, Boyle Heights community members came together at Hollenbeck Police Station to demand the release of Sammy Carrera and to drop the charges against the CSO 3, who LAPD attacked and arrested the night before.
Los Angeles, CA – On the evening of February 18, LAPD Hollenbeck Division officers brutally assaulted and arrested multiple members of the Chicano group, Centro Community Service Organization (CSO). Sergio Flores, Sam Carrera and a minor individual were beaten with batons, shoved, and without warning, arrested.
Los Angeles, CA – On Saturday, February 7, Centro Community Service Organization (CSO) alongside allies like La Mesa Nacional de Brown Berets, La Raza Unida Party and Freedom Road Socialist Organization held a protest at Mariachi Plaza demanding ICE out of Aztlán.
Los Angeles, CA – On Thursday, January 29, Centro CSO held a press conference at Mariachi Plaza denouncing the ICE raids that had happened the day before. On the morning of January 28, ICE agents assaulted and kidnapped at least six people in Boyle Heights, including fruit and flower vendors, and residents of Ramona Gardens.
Los Angeles, CA – On Saturday, January 24, Centro CSO answered an emergency call to action from the Legalization For All Network in response to ICE and US Border Patrol's second open murder in Minneapolis. Over 100 people gathered at Mariachi Plaza for a rally and vigil to stand in solidarity with Minneapolis and demand justice for Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse and community observer who was attacked and brutally murdered.
Boyle Heights, CA – On Tuesday, January 20, Centro Community Service Organization (CSO) marched alongside the family of Jeremy Anthony Flores to LAPD’s Hollenbeck Division station to deliver a petition and demand justice for Flores, a 26-year-old Chicano who was tragically shot and killed by police officers Michael Ruiz, Livier Jimenez and Fernando R Godinez.
Los Angeles CA – On Friday, January 16, 50 protesters gathered at the corner of Eastern Avenue and 3rd Street in East Los Angeles in response to the abduction of Jose Rodolfo De León, a community member, who was working at the local car wash during an ICE sweep.
Los Angeles, CA – Hundreds of organizers and community members gathered at Mariachi Plaza in historic Boyle Heights, January 8, for a vigil called by Centro CSO to honor Renee Nicole Good, a wife, mother and community defender murdered by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
Los Ángeles, CA – Many people were brought together in solidarity and protest against the U.S. bombing of Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president Nicolas Maduro on January 3, with 200 people joining a protest at Perishing Square in downtown LA at approximately 2 p.m.
Los Angeles, CA – A principios de octubre, los informantes en White Memorial, un hospital adventista de Boyle Heights, filtraron información invaluable. Los informantes afirmaron que los agentes de ICE estaban llevando a los detenidos de una instalación inadecuada de ICE llamada “B-18” ubicada dentro del Metropolitan Detention Center en el centro de Los Ángeles, al hospital del barrio Chicano.
Los Angeles, CA – In early October, whistleblowers at White Memorial, a Boyle Heights Adventist hospital, leaked invaluable information. The whistleblowers stated that ICE agents were taking detainees from an inadequate ICE facility named “B-18” located within the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, to the Chicano neighborhood hospital.
City of Industry, CA – On Saturday, December 13, the family of Joseph Perez, Centro CSO, and other allies rallied outside the Industry Sheriff’s Station to demand justice for Perez, who narrowly survived a beating by at least five sheriff’s deputies on July 27, 2020. Perez required 17 staples and 19 sutures to close cuts across his face and scalp, served two years in prison for resisting arrest, and is still recovering from the trauma.
Chicago, IL – Más de 900 personas asistieron a la conferencia de la Alianza Nacional Contra la Represión Racista y Política (NAARPR, por sus siglas en inglés) durante el fin de semana del 14 al 16 de noviembre, reuniendo a más de 30 capítulos de NAARPR y con la presencia de más de 12 capítulos de la Red de Legalización para Todos (L4A, por sus siglas en inglés).
Chicago, IL – Over 900 people attended the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) over the course of the November 14-16 weekend, bringing together more than 30 chapters of NAARPR with over 12 chapters of the Legalization for All (L4A) network in attendance.
Los Angeles, CA – On November 1, after the Los Angeles Dodgers’ winning Game Seven of the World Series, thousands of Chicanos took to the streets of their city to celebrate. The celebrations were met with extreme force by the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol.
Lincoln Heights, CA — In the early hours on November 4, an ICE raid took place at the Cypress Park Home Depot in Lincoln Heights. After the first sweep, more agents returned to do another. Only this time, Centro CSO members and other members and organizations with the Community Self Defense Coalition had arrived to protest the ICE presence.
Los Angeles, CA – On November 1, Centro CSO participated in the building of a community ofrenda (altar) at the Self Help Graphics’ 52nd annual Dia de Los Muertos Celebration in East Los Angeles. CSO’s altar honored the memories of community activists, victims of police brutality, and immigrants who have died while in ICE custody.
Los Angeles, CA – At 8:52 a.m. on Tuesday, October 21, Homeland Security Investigators (HSI) agents and other federal agents targeted and shot TikTok influencer Carlos Ricardo Parias, who uses the handle “RichardLA18” on TikTok.
Los Angeles, CA – On October 7, the two-year anniversary of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Centro CSO held a rally in solidarity with Palestine. The protest, which was a part of the Anti-War Action Network’s National Day of Action, commemorated the heroic defiance by the Palestinian resistance. Participants called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and demanded an end to the siege and ongoing genocide on Palestinians in Gaza.