Coyotl Tezcatlipoca

Coyotl Tezcatlipoca (born as Benito Acosta in March 1981, Los Angeles, California) has been politically ACTIVE since his late teen years in issues ranging from environmental, workers' rights, saving sacred sites of the Juaneño Indian nation of San Juan Capistrano and most notably in the struggle for immigrant rights. He changed his name to Coyotl Tezcatlipoca as way to reclaiming his indigenous roots. His mother is of P'urhépecha ancestry and his father of Mexica decent.

He is a member of Colectivo Tonantzin, a non-violent group that focuses on human rights issues but have a focus on indigenous people of the world and issues concerning migrant rights. Tonantzin is a diverse political grassroots organization that has worked diligently over years with many sectors of the orange county community.

Some of their work include: The Taco Bell boycott campaign in which they participated in defending the rights of tomato farm workers from Immokalee, Florida. The collective has also done countless "know your rights" workshops for the migrant community, worked with "at risk youth," day laborers in Lake Forest, Costa Mesa and in the city of Orange.

Costa Mesa City v.s. Coyotl Tezcatlipoca

"Immigrant rights activist Coyotl Tezcatlipoca was addressing a meeting of the Costa Mesa City Council in January of last year when he was abruptly cut off by local mayor, Allan Mansoor. Coyotl was criticizing a proposal to mandate local police officers enforce federal immigration law. In this audio from that meeting, Coyotl addresses the Council, and encourages opponents of the proposal to stand up to show their numbers – as Mayor Allan Mansoor cuts him off. Mansoor claims he did so because Coyotl violated a rule that forbids speakers from encouraging audience members to stand up. But it should be noted that just a little while earlier, at the same meeting, Mayor Mansoor allowed Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist to encourage audience members in favor of the anti-immigration proposal to stand up without incident. In fact, video footage shows Mansoor praising Gilchrist’s efforts. Local police forcibly removed Coyotl from the meeting, despite the fact he complied with their orders. Witnesses say and video shows Coyotl was physically assaulted by the officers outside. He was charged with resisting arrest. Now, nearly two years after the incident, Coyotl faces charges of violating two provisions of the local municipal code" (from www.uprisingradio.org, Sept. 24th, 2007)

Case dismissal

Judge Dismisses Vindictive Prosecution of Man in Costa Mesa Free-Speech Case Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Although the Orange County district attorney’s office declined to prosecute Acosta for criminal charges, the city of Costa Mesa decided to pursue the case.

COSTA MESA — Orange County Superior Court Judge Kelly MacEachern dismissed criminal charges against Coyotl Tezcatlipoca, an Orange Coast College student at the center of a much-publicized free-speech case in Costa Mesa. The judge questioned prosecutor Danny Peelman’s credentials and found that the local private attorney had not been appointed or sworn in as a public prosecutor as required by the California Constitution. Judge MacEachern stated that Mr. Peelman’s failure to follow the law amounted to “a denial of due process” for Tezcatlipoca (read more http://www.aclu-sc.org/releases/view/102607)