“All I Want Is That He Be Punished”

In the midst of increasing incidences of brutality at the hands of immigration authorities, Martha Elena Parra López, a Tijuana resident, was raped by Border Patrol agent Kenneth Cocke on May 31, 1972. ² A few days later, Martha Elena responded by detailing the event to San Ysidro activist Alberto García who, with area Chicano activists, created an uproar about the injustice. San Diego Chicano activists, already incensed by a series of harassment and brutality incidents undertaken by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers against Mexicans and Mexican Americans, called for immediate action from authorities for this atrocious act against who they described as a “young attractive Mexican National” and “mother of two children.” ³ For them, this brutality was part of a larger attack on “La Raza”/“our people,” as they called for a broader investigation of the local effects of deportation-oriented immigration policies. ⁴ For Martha Elena, telling her story to Chicano activists and to the public was an act of defiance, as she later stated, “All I want is that he (Agent Cocke) be punished.” ⁵