“¡Ayúdeme! ¡Este hombre trató de violarme!” the woman shouted when she heard Stargell. “¡Socorro!”
“Jesus Christ!” Stargell exclaimed. He rushed over, grabbed Herlihey, and pulled him off the woman. Her dress was pulled up to her chest, the top of her dress was ripped apart, her panties were ripped off on one side, and her breasts exposed. The woman immediately tried to get to her feet, but she was too weak and scared to get up, so she tried crawling away. Stargell felt for a pulse and found one. “Sarge? Can you hear me? Are you okay?” He heard a moan and felt relieved.
At that moment he saw a set of bouncing headlight beams coming toward them. The Border Patrol unit from Rampart One had arrived, bouncing quickly across the desert. Soon flashlight beams were heading in their direction. “Oh my God,” Stargell heard someone exclaim.
“The sarge was clobbered over the head.”
“What the fuck? Did he rape that woman?”
“No…I mean, I didn’t see anything…”
“God damn, Private, what the hell do you mean, you didn’t see anything?” the Border Patrol agent said angrily. “Your partner is out here in the desert right in front of your face and you didn’t see a thing?” He keyed a microphone clipped to his jacket. “Control, Unit Ten, I need a supervisor out here, and I need one now.”
“What is your situation, Ten?” the duty officer responded.
“I have a code ten-one-oh-six, signal thirty-five. Get a supervisor out here.”
There was a short silence; then: “Say again, Ten? You have a signal thirty-five? Aren’t you foxtrot-one-one with a Rampart unit?”
“Dammit, Control, just get a supervisor out here, right now. And stay off the air until we get this scene cleaned up. Out.”
CHAPTER 9
THE FEDERAL DISTRICT, MEXICO CITY,
MEXICO
LATER THAT DAY
“My fellow citizens of Mexico, I bid you peace and happiness,” the broadcast began. “My name is Ernesto Fuerza, but you know me by my nom de guerre, Comandante Veracruz. This message is being relayed to you through the broadcast studios of TV Azteca in Mexico City, courtesy of the owners and general manager of this station. I realize that they may be under some considerable danger from the government by allowing me to broadcast this message, but they have graciously given their consent to do so as long as possible, and I applaud their courage.”
Fuerza shifted slightly, lowered his head, and touched the bandages covering the left side of his face, as if trying to ward off a sudden shiver of pain. He still wore his sunglasses and the bandanna on his head, but he was not wearing the bandanna normally covering his face, revealing a longer goatee than normal and a considerable darkening of the right side of his face as if caused by exposure to fire or intense heat. He wore desert camouflage fatigues similar to the U.S. Army’s standard day desert battle dress uniform, a tan undershirt, a tan web belt with a sidearm, and even a pouch resembling a carrier for night vision goggles or a gas mask.
“Exactly what we have feared for so long has come true,” he said after a momentary pause. The pause was only a few seconds, but it spoke volumes on his condition—and it was of course all carefully caught on tape. “As a result of the warlike stance of the government of the United States and yesterday’s public call for armed aggression against the Mexican people by American right-wing radio personality Bob O’Rourke, a hideous and bloodthirsty crime was committed. Today, in the early morning hours, a California National Guard soldier brutally attacked and sexually assaulted a Mexican woman in the desert east of the illegal border patrol base known as Rampart One. This action was obviously in retaliation for the accidental downing of an American helicopter yesterday.
“As of this moment, the Americans have not released the woman or have even acknowledged that this crime took place,” Fuerza went on. “However, we have obtained radio scanner recordings of the incident that I will play for you now.” The recording was very short…and remarkably clear. “The Border Patrol agents use what are called ‘ten codes’ to confuse and disguise their messages, but fortunately they also publish the meanings of these codes on the Internet, which anyone can look up,” Fuerza explained. “A code ‘ten-one-oh-six’ is an officer involved in an incident; a ‘signal three-five’ is a rape or sexual assault; and a ‘foxtrot-one-one’ means providing assistance to an outside agency. The Americans cannot hide their crimes any longer—they have admitted their guilt with their own lips. You can obviously discern the disgust and horror of the Border Patrol agent’s voice as he reports what he has seen.
“To my fellow Mexicans all around the world, but especially those living and working in the United States of America, I say to you today, this must not be allowed to stand,” Fuerza went on. “That poor woman, raped by American soldiers in the desert, was simply trying to go to her place of work, where she probably earns less than a fourth of what other workers earn simply because she is undocumented. She did not deserve to be attacked like this. She deserved respect, a decent wage, and protections guaranteed to any other person living in the United States, protections that are a God-given right as well as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.
“I call on every Mexican person in the United States who is working without documentation to leave your place of work right now. Yes, you have heard me correctly: I want you to leave your place of work immediately. Why give the Americans the fruits of your labor and then be treated no better than a cheap whore? Why slave fourteen to eighteen hours a day in their fields for pennies, and then be afraid for your lives and your family’s welfare every other hour of the day?
“I understand that you are afraid of deportation and losing your jobs, but I am here to tell you, my brothers and sisters, that when enough of you abandon the fields, workplaces, homes, and slums of America, and ordinary Americans must pick up your tools and clean their own homes and pick their own crops, the Americans will beg for you to return. America has stood on your backs long enough—it is time for them to realize exactly how important you are to their economy and their way of life.
“I know you will be in fear of retribution for your act of defiance. Many spiteful Americans will lash out at you just because they are powerless to do anything about what you will do. You must protect yourself and your family at all times. Do not fight with the government authorities or police, but use every means at your disposal to defend yourself from vigilantes, criminals, and angry citizens.
“Soon, the authorities will be unable to handle the sheer vastness of your numbers. They will not be able to merely pile you into a bus and drive you across the border; you will not be inhumanely ‘processed’ as before because there will be too many for them to handle. But more important, they will soon learn that their economy, their industry, and their way of life cannot continue without you. They will soon realize that the best way to deal with the loss of your valuable labor is to formulate a fair foreign worker policy that guarantees you all legal rights, a fair wage, education and health care for your children, and eventually citizenship for those who desire it. Not only will they be unable to stop you—they will be unable to deal with you, except as the valuable, indispensable, vital human beings you are. They will quickly realize that their only recourse will be to offer you more than what you receive now. It will certainly not be more than you deserve.