New Chicano Park Mural Pays Tribute To Victims At The Border

The new mural promotes solidarity with immigrants.

In May of 2010, Anastasio Hernández Rojas was beaten to death by Customs and Border Protection agents at a detainee exit gate at the old San Ysidro border complex, just steps away from the U.S.-Mexico boundary line.

Today, a team of artists and volunteers are washing, treating, and priming the surface on which a mural in remembrance of Hernández Rojas and others killed by border agents will be painted on at San Diego’s Chicano Park, a National Historic Landmark and home to the world’s largest collection of outdoor murals.

Chicano muralist and professor Victor Ochoa is directing work on the large-scale painting. He has worked to commemorate the history and social struggles of Chicanos, immigrants, and many others at the site since its first murals went up in the 1970s.

In Ochoa’s vision, a collage of real-life imagery and symbols will tell the story of Hernández Rojas’ final moments and calls for justice. He points to a scale model of the piece which details the proposed project.