EPCC NEWS
Contact Person: Jerry Esguerra
(818) 749-0272
Los Angeles, CA

EPCC letter of Solidarity with Alex Sanchez and Homies Unidos

Los Angeles- -- The Echo Park Community Coalition expresses its militant indignation upon learning of the arrest of Alex Sanchez, executive director of Homies Unidos in Los Angeles, by the FBI on June 24.

The EPCC based in central Los Angeles among the Latino, Filipino and API community, have known and worked with Alex , a longtime fighter for justice in the immigrant community and has worked tirelessly to support the rights of youth in the US and El Salvador for the past nine years.

Alex and Homies Unidos, the violence prevention and gang intervention organization he helped found, have been close allies of the EPCC, People’s CORE and Latin American organizations like CISPES in the struggle for justice and against police violence throughout the Americas.

Plain Case of harassment

We and other allied organizations are concerned that the federal indictment against Alex follows in a long line of false charges against him and appears to be part of a pattern to target him for his work to promote an alternative strategy for combating violence than that of the LAPD which over the years have chosen iron-fist tactics over crime prevention programs.

While Alex and Homies Unidos have sought to promote reconciliation within their community. On the other hand, many politicians in Los Angeles have stood by a failed model of combating gang violence with indiscriminate police violence, criminalizing youth and utilizing corrupt institutions to attack suspected gang members and social movement leaders alike.

Twisted Priority

In the process, they used precious public funds to support the police and channel this resources from education, public needs and support for the needy for the persecution of the immigrants, youth and the community. A proof of twisted priorities.

We in the community of color stands by Alex and Homies Unidos in rejecting the changes against him, and we repeat the statement of the Homies Unidos board that “an indictment is an allegation only”.

We deplore the bourgeois media that seems intent of vilifying Alex and the work he has done to rescue youth from gang violence, we stand by him and believe that he is innocent of the crimes he is being accused of.

In solidarity with the community,

The Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC)
June 26, 2009

Plain Case of harassment

We and other allied organizations are concerned that the federal indictment against Alex follows in a long line of false charges against him and appears to be part of a pattern to target him for his work to promote an alternative strategy for combating violence than that of the LAPD which over the years have chosen iron-fist tactics over crime prevention programs.

While Alex and Homies Unidos have sought to promote reconciliation within their community. On the other hand, many politicians in Los Angeles have stood by a failed model of combating gang violence with indiscriminate police violence, criminalizing youth and utilizing corrupt institutions to attack suspected gang members and social movement leaders alike.