Thirty-Five Years of Pulling the Wool Over Peoples’ Eyes

"The story of the Flores family apparently was too contradictory to the stories American news media like to promote nowadays. It just didn't fit in the current media climate. It wasn't about North Africa and the Middle East or about the Tucson, Ariz., massacre or about efforts to repeal health care reform. It wasn't about Charlie Sheen's antics or public employees in Madison, Wis., or about undocumented immigrants and the hatred a loud minority of Americans feel for them. It wasn't even about border vigilantes who claim to be protecting us from an invasion of criminals.

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The vast majority of the American news media chose to play down or ignore the story of the Flores family, simply (and shamefully) because it went against the flow. This time, it was the criminals who had invaded an American Hispanic home, and they were Minutemen vigilantes... But now that we know about the raid on the Flores home by Border Patrol agent impersonators, now that they picked on Latinos who happened to be American citizens, now that three people allegedly committed murder to finance an anti-immigrant organization, I wonder whether they see the connection now." --Miguel Perez There are 2,293 people in the United States of America who bear the name "Miguel Perez." This Miguel Perez shows a continuing pattern of going off half-cocked, full of emotion and opinions which do not bother with such niceties as examining the facts. He never lets a good crisis situation go to waste, when it comes to fingering the bad old white man for racism against “innocent brown people.” What is apparent, is that the “contradiction” Mr. Perez notes, lies in the fact that this story is not really about “hate crimes” as Mr. Perez would have us believe, but more the sordid story of competing drug gangs resorting to violence to settle a score. No one is "ignoring" the story, least of all the Minuteman movement which came out with the following official statement, condemning the use of violence to advance any political agenda:

“'Although Shawna Forde was NOT a Minuteman and had been kicked out of the national Minuteman group more than 2 years before the murders, the border security movement in America is very pleased that Forde will be paying for her deplorable crimes, including the cold-blooded murder of an innocent 9-year old girl,' said Jeff Schwilk founder of the San Diego Minutemen. 'The Minutemen condemn all violence on both sides of the border. True border security and enforcement of our laws is the only answer to stopping the Mexican drug killings that has infested our border region.'”

So much for stereotyping a group of people, as Mr. Perez is wont to do. What “goes against the flow” is the presentation of facts by Mr. Perez, that paint an incomplete picture which unfairly targets the innocent--namely border security advocates of the Minuteman movement. This writer examined many sensationalist headlines regarding this case and one of them even labeled the killers “Tea Party Republicans.” The Minutemen had denounced Forde as being “unstable” and therefore she was expelled from the movement for being a whacko, two years before she committed the crime of murder. The Minutemen are famous for practicing non-confrontational maneuvers in border security enforcement. Their role consists of merely observing foreign interlopers who break into our country and then reporting them to the U.S. Border Patrol, in their capacity as good, responsible citizens. According to court testimony, at least two of the killers were speaking Spanish when they entered the home, so it was not a case of white against brown, but more the teaming up of comancheros; renegades expelled from the Minuteman movement and Mexican drug dealers, eager to get rid of the competition by murder. “…I wonder whether they see the connection now." --Miguel Perez

The Connection: Raul Flores Was a Drug Trafficker

"Albert Robert Gaxiola (born February 9, 1967 (age 44)[21]), of Arivaca, Arizona, is believed to have provided intelligence about drug activities in the area to the M.A.D.[22][23][24][25] Gaxiola had been imprisoned on marijuana charges from 1992 to 2000.[18] According to Gonzalez, Gaxiola and Flores had an on-going dispute that had originated in 2008 over marijuana belonging to Gaxiola that had been stored at Flores's residence.[26] The head of the Tucson office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, Anthony Coulson told the Arizona Daily Star, "Raul Flores was a drug-trafficker." Today, the DEA declines to comment on Mr. Flores.[27]" --Wikipedia - Cached - "Three men have been charged with murder in the December slaying of a drug dealer, a Las Vegas arrest warrant obtained Wednesday confirmed. Jose Luis Escamilla, 26, Francisco Javier Lerma, 27, and Raul Flores, 29, each face felony charges including murder with a deadly weapon, attempted murder and kidnapping related to the death of Cesar Quezada on Christmas Day." Raul Flores was not a "babe in the woods.” What Miguel Perez euphemistically refers to as an “American Hispanic home,” was actually a den of Hispanic drug dealers and unfit parents who put their daughter in harm’s way. That is why the press is loath to engage in any sensationalist reporting or yellow journalism, which unfairly promotes bias against patriotic Americans, who are actively opposed to “La Reconquista” of American territory for Mexico. "Up until now, it has been thought that the sole motive for the murders of 9 year old Brisenia Flores and her father Raul was to enable accused Minuteman child killer Shawna Forde to be able to fund her border vigilante group Minuteman American Defense, with the proceeds from the botched home invasion robbery in Arivaca Arizona. But another possible motive was revealed in Judge John Leonardo’s court last week, in a document filed by the prosecution on September 20.The document reads;

'Defendant Gaxiola had allegedly been involved in conversations relating to killing Junior Flores, who belonged to a competing drug gang, and in hiring Forde and Bush to eliminate the competition.'”

Isn’t it ironic that a Hispanic drug dealer imagined the murders into existence, for which white people are being exclusively and bitterly blamed? The mastermind of this crime was Mexican, so to try to pawn it off on the Minuteman movement is what is truly “shameless,” in the reporting of Mr. Perez.

“Forde and her accomplices allegedly expected to find a huge stash of either cash or drugs at the Flores home. They found neither.” -- Miguel Perez

"Under cross-examination yesterday, Gonzalez denied that her husband was making money by selling marijuana. She also denied there were packaging materials for marijuana in her home. This morning, Larsen asked Arivaca resident Inga Hartman if she was aware that Raul Flores was a drug dealer. ‘Yes,’ was her answer. She was asked if Gina had told her that Raul was a drug dealer. 'No,' she testified. And, Gonzalez said, Tuesday, she was not aware of a secret stash of drug money in her home when asked about a hiding place in her bedroom. 'I thought he (Junior) kept dirty magazines and stuff in there,' she testified. A large sum of cash was found under the mattress in the master bedroom after the incident. Gonzalez had testified that she had placed it there after Raul had given it to her Friday evening." (Source) The fact is, that although the house was “clean”--meaning the drugs were possibly cached elsewhere, or already sold--it is a fact that thousands of dollars in cash as well as marijuana residue, was found by the authorities.

"It was reported previously that sheriff’s deputies said Flores was a known drug dealer and they suspected a plan was crafted by Forde to rob Flores and use the gains to finance her own group’s activities. Perhaps she justified the crime to herself because Flores was a known drug criminal."

"Immediately after the killings, the police were free with their opinions of Junior Flores. Anthony Coulson heads the Tucson office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. "Raul Flores was a drug-trafficker," he told the Arizona Daily Star in June. Today, the DEA declines to comment on Mr. Flores." (Source) “Arizona has been in the news so much lately. Did someone decide the American public is tired of hearing about Arizona just in time to avoid presenting the Hispanic side of the illegal immigration story?” Miguel Perez No, Sir. The Mexicans eagerly assisted in the butchery, in fact a Mexican dreamed up the whole scenario and it was not about “immigration,” for these comancheros didn’t need no stinkin’ badges for their brand of “border enforcement” among rival drug clans.

About Miguel Perez

"Journalist Miguel Pérez, an award-winning reporter, columnist and popular radio and television talk-show host, has spent his 35-year career covering the issues and concerns of America's burgeoning Latino population, and chronicling the evolution of our Hispanic heritage. As a columnist for the Creators Syndicate since January of 2004, he brings a Latino perspective – with insight, sensitivity, and passion – to a national audience. He is a frequent guest commentator on ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight’ and other popular CNN shows." Thor Asgardson