The smell of carnitas, grilled meats, and sweet desserts saturated the air on Patata Street this past Saturday evening. The sun setting behind them, street vendors and food trucks lined this famous street in Cudahy beside the train tracks to raise funds for street food vendor advocate Edin Alex Enamorado.
The well-known activist has spent the last seven months detained in jail without bail, along with seven others who were initially arrested by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Currently, Enamorado is choosing to fight charges that accuse him and the others of assault, conspiracy, kidnapping, and more, following a string of altercations that occurred amid protests in 2023.
Earlier this month, six of the activists who also remained without bail pleaded guilty to assault charges. Among them were Stephanie Amesaquita, Vanessa Carrasco, Wendy Lujan (Enamorado's partner), David Chavez, Fernando Lopez, and Edwin Peña, who had participated in past protests against street vendor abuses alongside Enamorado.
According to these six defendants' respective lawyers, who shared the news across social media, the group accepted the plea deals, which included a conviction on a single felony assault charge. Three of the women, Lujan, Amesquita, and Carrasco, were released earlier this month for time served, and the other activists, Chavez, Lopez, and Peña, are expected to be released this December.
Damon Alimouri, who represents Carrasco, said his client had no special restrictions imposed on her when it came to exercising her right to protest after being released.