Antonio Villaraigosa (then, Tony Villar) leading a protest to include the Communist organization "Committee to Free Los Tres" on the Steering Committee of the Chicano Studies Center.  UCLA campus, May 23, 1974.

“Born to Raise Hell” – at UCLA: Antonio Villaraigosa, a one-time juvenile delinquent still tattooed with the slogan “Born to Raise Hell,” entered the UCLA campus as a transfer student from East Los Angeles Community College in 1972.  Known then simply as Tony Villar, he would not successfully graduate by the time he left in 1975.(1)   But Villar did leave a wide swath of influence in other, more radical ways.

While on campus, Villar joined the UCLA chapter of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), and was part of its leadership by 1974.  MEChA had only been founded as a regional movement in 1969, and in many ways, the UCLA chapter, and the radical Chicano student left today, is a direct product of Villar’s work then.

The official national symbol of MEChA is an eagle holding a machete-like weapon and a stick of dynamite.

WHAT IS MEChA?

The acronym MEChA stands for "Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan." or "Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan."

MEChA is an Hispanic separatist organization that encourages anti-American activities and civil disobedience. The radical members of MEChA who refer to themselves as "Mechistas," romanticize Mexican claims to the "lost Territories" of the Southwestern United States -- a Chicano country called Aztlan. In its national constitution, MEChA calls for self-determination by its members to liberate Aztlan. MEChA's national constitution starts out: "Chicano and Chicana students of Aztlán must take upon themselves the responsibilities to promote Chicanismo within the community, politicizing our Raza with an emphasis on indigenous consciousness to continue the struggle for the self-determination of the Chicano people for the purpose of liberating Aztlán."

These anti-American "Mechistas" live with the false illusion that they are being racially discriminated against because they are Latinos while totally dismissing the idea that maybe it is their ideology that is being discriminated against.

MEChA groups exist in public high schools, college and university campuses in all of the United States

(1) “His 'Second Chance' Shaped Villaraigosa,” by Matea Gold, May 31, 2001, Los Angeles Times

Antonio Villaraigosa is the former Chairman of the UCLA Chapter of MEChA, an anti-American and anti-Israel separatist group vowing to liberate Aztlan (the U.S. Southwest), who refer to themselves as La Raza (The Race).