Bodegueros demand that the city avoid another tragedy similar to the one that cost the life of Junior Guzmán
PHOTO: UBA / COURTESYBy:David Ramirez Updated 06 Oct 2020, 17:31 pm EDT DavidRamirezPO
NEW YORK – A little more than two years after the machete murder of a teenager in a bodega in the Bronx, another violent attack took place last Sunday, which fortunately left only one person injured with serious forehead injuries.
Members of the Union of American Bodegueros (UBA) denounced yesterday in a press conference to be “terrified and fear for their lives” and urged the City Police Department to take immediate action to avoid another tragedy.
On Sunday around 5 p.m. – according to a security video provided by the UBA – two young men are seen panicking as they enter a bodega while further back, about six boys chase them, some of them wielding machetes.
The video of almost a minute and a half clearly shows that luckily the two boys managed to save themselves after entering the warehouse and closing the door. Their pursuers are then seen trying to enter, breaking the door and the adjacent area with their machetes, and then, unable to gain access, start causing all kinds of damage.
“The videos show the moment of life and death. I think it was a miracle that a tragedy did not materialize,” said Radhames Rodriguez, president of UBA. “We are nervous, these machete attacks take us back 2 years when they killed Junior and blamed the bodega owner for his death,” added the merchants’ representative.
On June 20, 2018, Junior Guzman was killed by a gang that chased him into a bodega, where they hacked him to death with machetes.
In the wake of Sunday’s incident, bodegueros recall that New York City promised this would never happen again, but gangs and machetes remain a threat to owners, employees and the merchant community, they charged yesterday.
“We are in time to avoid a disgrace. We ask the NYPD to assign more police officers to our neighborhoods and ensure safety in our neighborhoods,” stated Fernando Mateo.
The Dominican activist pointed out that the lack of more police officers in working class neighborhoods is the result of budget cuts made to the Uniformed.
“If there is one agency in the city that should never have had its funding cut, it is the police. We need security, the mayor should have considered that, the lack of police in our poor neighborhoods leads to violence,” Mateo said.
Radhames Rodriguez insisted that, although the police responded to the 911 call, things happen quickly in real time. The young men struggled to stay alive until the police arrived.
“As you can see from the videotapes, someone could have died. It was a lucky day for the 2 victims who ran into the hold, they could have died.”
“We are in our warehouses trying to make a living, we don’t know who is coming in and why. We are also innocent victims, we are not armed, we have nothing to defend or protect anyone with without risking our own lives,” said another member of the winemakers’ association who declined to be identified.
