Rosalio Muñoz

On August 29, 1970, Muñoz and fellow Chicano activist Ramses Noriega organized a peaceful march in East Los Angeles, California in which over 30,000 Mexican Americans were in attendance to protest the war in Vietnam.

The event became a site of police brutality after sheriffs attacked and tear gassed the crowd, leading to the deaths of three people, including Muñoz's friend and Chicano journalist Ruben Salazar.

[4] On August 29, 1970, Muñoz recalled that the march of 30,000, which included "a Black delegation from the Che Lumumba branch of the Communist Party; a representative from the Young Lords; a Puerto Rican youth group similar to the Brown Berets; and Anglo-American members of the local Peace Action Council," was being closely watched by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, who described it as "boisterous" and "cheerful."

Muñoz and Ramsés Noriega had planned the event as a part of a series of protests throughout the Southwestern United States that would eventually culminate in the East Los Angeles march in August.

"[5] Muñoz opened the post-march rally stating "A year ago, when we started organizing against the war, there were very few of us," but now "a powerful call for social change" had been created.

In a bit of tragic irony, as noted by Oropeza, "shortly afterward, the bulk of demonstrators were running from the park in order to flee an assault by sheriff's deputies.

Martinez stated that he had become an informant and agent provocateur for the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Enforcement Division (ATF) of the U.S. Treasury Department after being arrested for possession of an illegal weapon in July 1969.

Under the instruction of ATF agents Fernando Ramos and Jim Riggs, Martinez committed illegal acts "which allowed the police to make arrests and raid headquarters of the Chicano Moratorium Committee.

In August 1971, on the anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium, Martinez was charged with inciting a riot and interfering with a police officer, orders he had received from the ATF.

"[7] Muñoz described that Chicano protest action against discriminatory educational institutions, the Catholic Church, and the U.S. government's involvement in Vietnam has always been "met with police-initiated political violence."