When Benito Flores chose to resist his expulsion from a house belonging to the State, he knew very well that the decision could lead to his death. The 70-year-old retirement welder preferred this result to become homeless again, suffering from his last days on the street.
In the end, he was not dead without a house.
In March 2020, after 14 years of sleep in a pale yellow van, Flores seized a publicly vacant property in El Sereno. He acted in coordination with a dozen other people who have taken houses for themselves. They argued that the real crime was not entering empty houses, but rather that the houses, acquired by California Department of Transportation An expansion of the failed motorwaywere allowed to rot while tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles had no roof over their heads.
Flores and the others called their group “Recover our houses.“Galvanized by a national interest in their demonstration, they obtained permission from the state to stay temporarily in the properties. Over time, other “reclamers” have accepted colonies to leave or leave when the deputies of the Sheriff of the County of Los Angeles came to the door. Flores. Built a trees made of 6 feet by 3 feet28 feet high in an ash in the courtyard, preparing to go up there when the deputies arrived.
The risks were clear to him. He thought the alternative was worse.
“I am 70 years old with uncontrolled diabetes, I have wounds on my feet and I could lose them,” Flores wrote in a letter of July 4 to the judge of the Superior Court of the county who ordered his expulsion. “I am a strong candidate to die on the street alone and forgotten. This is why I choose to die here by defending my house. ”
Six weeks ago, Flores and a group of supporters succeeded Chaan the Sheriff deputies Who had come to remove it – without Flores having to barricade himself in the hut in the trees. Since then, Flores has continued to strengthen his defenses. He attached ladders to a second backyard tree to try to create a protective network in the sky.
Last week, Flores apparently fell from the tree. A neighbor discovered the body of Flores on Friday afternoon on the ground, its broken safety harness in the branches above it. Paramedical paramedics declared him dead on the scene. The County Legalist’s Legalist has not yet published details.
It did not have to end like this, according to government authorities. Officials of the housing authority in the city of Los Angeles, who operated the temporary rental program on behalf of Caltrans, said they had made all possible attempts to find another place to live. They offered cash regulations up to $ 20,000, a voucher in article 8 and more than two dozen references to other houses.
But Flores rejected them as insufficient guarantees of permanent housing at a price that he could afford on his sole source of income, social security and disability. Caltrans planned to sell the small house where Flores built the house of backyard trees to a non-profit organization which, in turn, allowed a low-income resident to live there. He qualified, he reasoned, so why should he leave?
“Benito was the heart and soul of our movement,” said Roberto Flores, who operates a private community center in El Sereno and helped organize the five years of demonstrations. Roberto Flores, who is not linked to Benito, called him a martyr for the cause of housing and human rights.
Benito Flores was short and slightly stocky. He wore thin glasses, a wispy gray beard, old work clothes and often a bucket hat when he was in the sun. Friends did not know if he had immediate survivors.
Flores told Times in May that he was born outside Monterrey, Mexico, had come to the United States in the late 1980s, and later became an American citizen. He said that he had worked on construction sites which forced him to put heights on the scale to fix the steel beams.
As they get older and working, he said, he needed to resort to live in his van. He kept the same beaten vehicle parked on rue El Sereno narrow where he lived.
Shortly after Flores was discovered on Friday afternoon, activists organized a vigil at his home. The medical examiner had not yet come and Flores’ body remained in the backyard where it had been found, covered with a white sheet.
A crying takes a photo of a memorial installed outside the house of Benito Flores on Friday. Flores, 70, died last week after an apparent fall from a backyard tree, where he had protested against his expulsion.
(Liam Dillon / Los Angeles Times)
About 50 people in mourning attended, honoring Flores with an indigenous ceremony. They sang, recited prayers, played with the battery and a scented copy and cedar, the smoke surrounding the body of Flores. At the end, they placed flowers on the top of the sheet.
Some of those who gathered have spoken. Gerardo Santos said he had never met anyone before Flores who had really given their life to a cause.
“We see a loss, something that is very hurtful and painful,” said Santos. “And then we also see someone who died for what he believes.”
After the arrival of the medical examiner, the tribute moved to the front of the house. The folk musicians of Jaroho son played in honor of Flores behind a sidewalk altar with candles and a photo of a smiling flora in the tree.
A dozen officers of the Los Angeles police department were there, which upset many members of the crowd who said they were simply trying to pay tribute. LAPD SGT. David Azevedo said they came due to the size of the legislative personnel collection, who was concerned about their own safety. In addition, said Azevedo, legally, ownership should be in possession of the housing authority and no one should be there without the agency’s authorization.
Some of the demands have accepted the assistance of the housing authority and Stay in a low -income permanent housing. Others have received redemptions but returned to homelessness. Two in addition to Flores who refused the colonies were locked.
Shortly after the failure of the attempted expulsion of Flores last month, government representatives approached it with another offer: four years of rent living for free in an apartment in El Sereno.
Flores thought about it, he said A Podcaster from San Gabriel ValleyIn what would be his last interview, published on July 15. But he said no. What about his colleagues claimers who were now on the street? Shouldn’t they get the same case? And after these four years, he would not be older, and more tired and weak. It would be worse, he said, to look at the homeless at the time.
Benito Flores, who seized a house belonging to the State in El Sereno, died. He lived in a hut in the trees, at the top right, as a demonstration against his expulsion and fortified and built additional defenses in a second tree.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
It is not as if the trees have not frightened him. He had already had an accident before when a pullee system failed and fell to four feet, and realized what would have happened to him if he had been higher.
“My life is at risk,” said Flores on the podcast. “I wonder, why?” Why am I climbing trees? I should be in a house, take advantage of my retirement – play dominoes or everything that is retired. ”
But his determination was greater than his fear. Flores said he thought that the state had the obligation to house the homeless, the elders, the disabled and the families with children. Trying to expel it as well as other recurrences, he said, violated this principle.
“It,” said Flores, “that’s why I fight.”
