LOS ANGELES – Activists remember this Saturday the 28 Mexican immigrants who died in a plane crash in California when they were going to be expelled from the United States and who were only identified as “those deported” by the authorities and the press, which generated great controversy 75 years ago.
The incident occurred on January 28, 1948 when an aircraft with 32 people on board crashed near Coalinga, in the Central Valley of California.
All the occupants died but both the authorities and the press only identified the three crew members and an immigration officer, all white, and the rest of the victims were only mentioned as “the deportees.”
Among the 28 Latino victims were agricultural workers belonging to the bracero program whose work permits had expired, as well as undocumented immigrants facing deportation orders.
After the scandal, only 12 of the Mexican victims were identified. Most of the bodies were entombed in a common grave at Fresno’s Holy Cross Cemetery, and their graves were marked “Mexican Nationals.”
The event inspired the song “Deportee” by Woody Guthrie, in which he assigned symbolic names to the deceased.
The victims were fully identified decades later thanks to the work of activists and researchers such as Tim Z. Hernández, author and professor at the University of Texas, who captured the story in the book “All They Will Call You?”.
In 2018, the California Senate claimed the names of the 28 Mexicans, including Miguel Negrete Álvarez, Tomás Aviña de Gracia, Francisco Llamas Durán, Santiago García Elizondo, Rosalío Padilla Estrada, Tomás Padilla Márquez, Bernabé López García, Salvador Sandoval Hernández , Severo Medina Lara, Elías Trujillo Macías, José Rodríguez Macías, Luis López Medina and Manuel Calderón Merino.
The list is completed by Luis Cuevas Miranda, Martín Razo Navarro, Ignacio Pérez Navarro, Román Ochoa Ochoa, Ramón Paredes González, Guadalupe Ramírez Lara, Apolonio Ramírez Placencia, Alberto Carlos Raygoza, Guadalupe Hernández Rodríguez, María Santana Rodríguez, Juan Valenzuela Ruiz, Wenceslao Flores Ruiz , José Valdivia Sánchez, Jesús Meza Santos and Baldomero Marcas Torres.
The event to commemorate and vindicate deceased immigrants will take place this Saturday at the Baker Museum in Colinga, where Tim Z. Hernández will participate.
In Los Angeles another event was held yesterday Friday to remember the workers who died in the accident.