Olvera, a longtime Houston resident and Mexican citizen, was paralyzed in the attack, which broke his spinal cord. He died 11 months later.

Louis Rey Gomez, Richard Henry Gonzales, and Carlos Reyna were convicted by a Houston jury of willfully denying Olvera medical care after his paralyzing injury. The jury also found Gonzales, who doused the Mexican worker with pepper spray, guilty of using excessive force. Reyna was found innocent of the additional charge of using excessive force in beating Olvera.

Sentencing was set for September 17. Gonzales could get up to 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. Reyna and Gomez face up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. Gomez’s lawyer, Jay Norton, told the press following the trial, “I believe we will be filing the appropriate motions and appeal.”

“I hope this decision will help others,” said Martha Olvera, sister-in-law of Serafín. “I see this as a first step for everyone fighting for justice—no matter what color they are, no matter where they come from. It isn’t just immigrants in this country who suffer injustice, who are denied their civil rights.”

The case was brought to trial after a more than two-year campaign led by the Olvera family and the Serafín Olvera Justice Committee. The committee’s efforts included actions publicizing the case in the United States and Mexico, pressing for trial first for murder and then under Section 242 of the federal civil rights code, which states that law officers are prohibited from depriving people of basic rights.

Family members gathered information on Olvera’s deported co-workers and roommates, went to Mexico and met with them, and convinced six of them to come to Houston to testify.

During the trial, which began here May 14, the workers detailed the events of the raid carried out by 12 Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agents from both Houston and San Antonio. These workers described seeing the three agents beating Olvera as he lay on the floor with his hands and feet cuffed. The agents were members of a special team formed by the INS to hunt felons for deportation.

Under laws adopted under the Clinton administration, the immigration cops gained sweeping powers to round up and deport those charged with being “illegal” immigrants without the right to judicial review or appeal.

Rosendo Solís, Jesús Cruz Balderas, and Gumersindo Martínez, all from the Mexican province of Veracruz, testified that they were told by the assaulting agents that if they even looked at what was happening to Olvera, “The same thing will happen to you.” Despite the threats they did look and came to testify.

“Olvera cried for help,” recalled Cruz-Balderas “He said, ‘They broke me.’” Solis reported that Olvera asked for a doctor. Martínez and others showed the court how Olvera was kicked and kneed by the cops.

Several cops who participated in the raid testified during the trial. Agent Gilbert Rodriguez testified he heard Gonzalez say, “Let’s mace this f----r and see if he’ll budge!” Another agent admitted that he failed to enter the names of those being deported, but denied he did it to make it impossible to trace possible witnesses.

The defense maintained the agents were performing their duties as best they could and that they believed the immigrant worker was faking his injuries. They tried to discredit the Mexican workers’ testimony implying that they were bribed to come to testify by the prospect of working in Texas during the court proceedings. When asked if it was true that he made big money working as a construction worker in Texas during the trial, Cruz Balderas replied with dignity, “Not so much money.” Then he explained, “The only difference in coming to Texas this time is that I didn’t have to hire a coyote.” On the day the trial began 18 immigrants abandoned by a coyote (smuggler) were found dead in a truck south of Houston.

Many working people in this area welcomed the verdict. “It is a partial victory,” said Christobal Hinojosa of Mexicans In Action, a group which has helped to organize several protests since the 2001 raid, referring to the jury decision. “A first step to what I believe will be a real victory as we continue to fight.”

“They thought they could get away with it because they are the government and can do what they want to us,” said Ruby Solorzón, a sewing machine operator in Houston. “They want immigrants to come here to work—they get the hot, dirty jobs like he had in construction—but they don’t want to give them their rights.”

Those fighting for justice for Serafín Olvera offered their solidarity to other struggles. Martha Olvera, for example, became one of the national co-chairs of the Róger Calero Defense Committee (see article ‘Houston activists prepare Calero victory tour’ in this issue).

Amelia Pérez, an activist in the Serafín Olvera Justice Committee said that “Martha Olvera kept fighting even when it looked difficult. She always said, ‘Sí se puede. We can do it.’”  
 
 
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