It was about 6 o’clock: 30 of the afternoon of 17 April when Jorge Hernández and his wife Anabertha Hernández raised their car of hotdogs, after a day of sales in Los Callejones de Los Angeles when they were robbed.
“We were cleaning and raising the benches, when we saw two men coming. Already the area was very lonely. There were no people, ”he recalls.
When the robbers passed him, they pretended that they would continue walking, but they took an unexpected turn and one of They put a gun to José’s head and took out his wallet with the money from the day’s sales.
“There were like five minutes that seemed eternal. The man started hitting me with the gun on the head and ribs. I thought he was going to kill me. They laid my wife on the floor. ”
There was a moment when Jorge asked the thugs to leave, they already had everything, but he says they kept attacking him. “I think they thought I had more money. It’s all I have, he would tell them. Maybe they wanted to knock us unconscious so we wouldn’t ask for help. ”
With his head split open from the blows and bloodied, Jorge was taken to the hospital. “Fortunately, they were only injuries and not blows that put my life at risk. But we live in terrifying moments ”, he says.
Street vendors and lunchbox owners are increasingly exposed to assaults and attacks not only in Los Angeles but all over California. We often see on the news, violent robberies against them.
“ It is difficult to talk about numbers and say how many are assaulted because many of them do not dare to report their immigration status. But I want to tell you that the Los Angeles police do not collaborate with the immigration authorities or give them any notification , ”says Commander Al Labrada of the Central Bureau of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Most street vendors are Latino and immigrants. They are sellers of flowers, fruits, hot dogs, paleteros and many have already been able to rent or buy a lunch box.
Commander Labrada advised street vendors settle in lighted areas where there is traffic, that are not too dark or private.
“We have had many forums with them and we have also asked them to become friends with their neighbors so that they can somehow protect each other ”
Specifies that it is very important that street vendors are respectful and responsible so that once they finish working, they clean their spaces garbage and grease. “That will help them maintain a good relationship with their neighbors.”
He also recommends trying not to keep a lot of money with them because that makes them the target of theft. “The assailants know that they have cash.”
Jorge de 53 years old and father of three daughters of 27, 24 Y 13 years, says that the robbery was stripped of $ 1, 400. “Since the assault, we have tried to leave earlier and seek accompaniment. We have asked friends to join us when we start the business. ”
He points out that now they are more alert about what is happening to your surroundings. “It is no longer the same trust. When three or four clients arrive together, we get nervous. ”
And he adds that the robbery of last April was the first they suffered in the 8 years he has been with his lunch box. “The generator has been stolen from us, but the theft of generators has been very common for many years. They steal it from you even if you have it chained in your car ”, he says.
Jorge is a US citizen, but most of the street vendors they are undocumented immigrants. “Many friends without papers have been assaulted, but since they don’t have papers they don’t report it; or if they do, they don’t want to follow up on their case, out of fear. ”
This week, Commander Labrada and a group of LAPD Newsom station police surprised Jorge and his wife Anabertha with a donation of more than $ 2, 000 contributed by police officers and their wives. “We are very grateful to the police. We weren’t expecting it, ”says Jorge.
The Puerto Rican William Cordero was not assaulted at gunpoint as Jorge, but the lovers of other people’s things surprised him by stealing his complete lunch box of natural juices “Juice Bar” on 24 April last year.
“They stole it from the place where we kept it in south central Los Angeles. We later found it under a bridge, inhabited by homeless people, but already dismantled without the kitchen and the equipment ”, says William
His losses were around $ 50, 000, and from the insurance they were only able to recover $ 7, 000.
“ I never thought that this could happen to me and that my effort would be lost, when I was barely a month old with 27 days to open. It was a nightmare! ”.
However , says that he decided not to surrender or allow the assailants to steal his energy and desire to move on.
“I am in the process of opening a fully resident lunch box. Also focused on the sale of organic, nutritional and vegan juices. ”
William plans to reopen in a month and a half. “Due to the theft of my lunch box, I now want to focus more on events and festivals, and settle for the Santa Monica waterfront area.”
But it also reveals that he is preparing to protect himself from a possible assault. “ I am seriously considering carrying a weapon in business. It is a sadness what we are living and the hatred towards Latinos ”.
He comments that the state of California is already making it very difficult with so many permits to also have to worry about assaults and hate attacks.
“We live in moments of great tension. We have no protection. That is why we need more police patrols and other resources to protect us. It costs a lot to put together an investment for a small business like a lunch box; And really, small businesses are the engine of the economy. That is why we do not deserve to be harmed. ”
At the end of April, Ernesto Francisco, a flower seller was robbed and attacked by a woman in the Inglewood area of Los Angeles. He aroused so much community support that he managed to raise more than $ 17 , 000 in donations of the community after the incident.
For different parts of the state, it has already become very common to see in the media, reports of violent robberies against street vendors. In March, in the city of Fresno, Lorenzo Pérez, a street vendor of 45, he died after being robbed and shot in the head. He is survived by his wife and four children of 15, 13, 05 and 9 years old.