Friday, May 20, 2011

L.A. Chicano Activist Speaks Out on Police Raid

A veteran Los Angeles Chicano activist is speaking out today after what he says was a joint Sheriff’s Department and FBI raid on his Alhambra home on Tuesday morning. Carlos Montes is one of the original Brown Berets who was a key leader of the Chicano Power movement of the 1960’s and 1970s. He says his current activism in the immigrant rights and international workers solidarity movement has put him back in the crosshairs of federal agents. Montes was arrested in his home during a pre-dawn raid in which authorities confiscated countless photos, documents and even two kaffiyehs. He says the authorities have charged him with illegal possession of a firearm. Pacifica’s Ernesto Arce visited Montes at his home. He files this report from Los Angeles.