Aid Offered to Mexicans in Land Deal

Pledging quick action, the Mexican government announced Friday that it would provide counsel and legal assistance to Mexican nationals who bought raw desert land from developer Marshall Redman.

Mexican Consul General Jose Pescador Osuna said he wants to assure rapid help for customers of the 67-year-old millionaire developer, who has been charged with theft and fraud in his questionable sale of undeveloped Antelope Valley land to hundreds of working-class Latinos.

Promised amenities such as telephone service and utilities, as many as 250 Redman customers now live in poverty-stricken conditions--most without heat or running water--in remote areas of Los Angeles, Kern and San Bernardino counties.

Pescador said he would send a team of investigators to the High Desert next week to interview Mexican citizens who bought land from Redman, who has pleaded not guilty. Authorities say that nearly all of Redman’s 1,500 customers are Spanish-speaking, and Pescador said that his initial research leads him to believe a significant number may be Mexican nationals.

The consul general’s aggressive stance reflects a more activist trend on behalf of Mexicans in this country that began with recent police beatings of undocumented immigrants in Riverside County and elsewhere. Mexican Consulate officials recently launched an assistance program that includes lawyer referrals for the families of people killed or injured by U.S. law enforcement.

“But these people don’t have to be the victims of police brutality to warrant our help,” he said. “If they are Mexican citizens and their rights have been violated in this country, they will receive our attention.”

“We’re looking out for their rights as employees, as consumers and as human beings. . . . We will be with them so they can file for their rights.”

Looking out for the interests of nationals traveling abroad is a traditional duty of consulates, but Pescador’s aggressive stance against U.S. officials is politically popular in Mexico.

Pescador said he will encourage Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina to continue her actions to help secure water rights for about 50 Latino families--most of them Redman customers--who live without running water in the Hi Vista area, about 90 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

Recently, Molina created a task force to examine legal problems experienced by Redman customers, including families who have been denied use of county water wells because county officials have said they cannot prove they own the land they live on.

Between 1978 and 1994, Redman sold about 2,500 parcels, mainly through unrecorded land sale contracts.

Pescador said several members of his 10-member staff will spend the coming weeks trying to determine the number of Mexican citizens involved, exactly what agreements they signed and how long it will take to secure them either a refund or clear title to their property.

More than two years after Redman was sued in 1994 and a court-appointed receiver was hired to untangle his finances, only three of about 1,500 customers have received clear title.

Enrique Arevalo, a South Pasadena immigration attorney and a former president of the Mexican American Bar Assn. of Los Angeles County, said his organization will provide eight hours of free legal advice to people referred by the consul general’s office.