The issue of immigration crime is on the rise after an alleged takeover of an apartment by Venezuelan gang members in Colorado, but a video shot by an Aurora apartment tenant goes viral, prompting politicians and establishment figures to downplay or deny the threat. refuted the media's efforts.
Cindy Romero, whose video of armed members of the Venezuelan Torren de Aragua patrolling an apartment in Aurora, Colorado, made international news Donald Trump in Aurora, a city Trump has called a “war zone.” in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News before Friday's rally. due to the influx of immigrant criminals.
She described a horrifying experience in which gang members “patroled the area with guns, changed the locks on buildings and forced residents to kick in the doors of vacant apartments.”
“They're a takeover, that's what it is,” she told Breitbart. “It's a takeover.”
For months, Mr. Romero begged law enforcement and elected officials for help, but his pleas were met with a mix of denial, apathy, and sympathetic inaction. Meanwhile, the gang continued to expand its influence within Romero and nearby apartment buildings.
She says both her car and her husband's sports car had bullet holes courtesy of gangsters.
But despite these pleas, videos showing gun-toting gang members pointing guns at passing cars and multiple crimes, including the Aug. 18 murder, , fact-checkers, along with many local Democrats and mainstream media outlets, claim it's not true. Torren de Aragua has “taken over” the building.
“It's all about the definition of these people,” Romero told Breitbart, describing how gangs have taken over control of buildings and used tactics akin to extortion to blackmail tenants into paying rent. explained. “[The gang members] Ready your gun. We're running out of people who are supposed to be there. Through intimidation and intimidation, they fled the owners, caretakers, and those who worked with them, changing the locks on the buildings, moving back and forth through the apartments, and electrifying themselves. . ”
she said: “These people wanted us to go because they harass the neighbors. 'Are you moving? Are you going to move? 'When you move, your keys are I want it.'' That alone was a threat to me.
Romero accused the media and politicians of burying their heads in the sand, saying they “knew about my video months before it was dropped.”
“How many gang members are living right outside your house?” she asked. “How many guns are right outside your door?”
It was too much for Romero. She successfully moved within 10 days of the murder.
“It's not as scary as you might imagine,” she explained. “They would get on their bikes and ride into buildings and apartments, and they would come underneath us and rev up their engines while we were sleeping, and then all of a sudden someone would rev up their bikes underneath you. If you can imagine not only the noise, but the smell of exhaust fumes under the bed while you are trying to sleep… it was terrifying.”
“I left. I had to get out of Aurora completely to feel safe again,” she added.
For many in the media and politics, this issue is not an issue at all. Romero has also encountered claims that there are no new threats to Torren de Aragua because gang activity has always been present in the area.
“These gangs don't act like other gangs,” Romero warned. “They don't wear a certain color. They don't care if you know them or not. They don't go out of their way to come out and introduce themselves. In fact, they don't care if you know them. They probably don't want to talk to you at all, but they want to rob your store. They want to break in through your window and steal your car.”
She described the new threat posed by Venezuelan gangs that operate parallel to existing social structures.
“The scariest thing, besides how ferocious they are, is that they are organized,” she said. “They have their own locksmiths, electricians and plumbers.”
Romero believes that while Venezuelans may have left behind the poverty and lawlessness of a brutal dictatorship, they have not left behind their own experiences.
“They took their country with them,” she told Breitbart.
“We're used to being polite,” she added. “We all have basic norms by which we live. My fellow Americans, we help and support each other in times of conflict; [with the Venezuelan gangs] This is something that everyone does for themselves. ”
Romero said he lives paycheck to paycheck and has set up a GoFundMe to help with expenses, including those related to a recent move, but he doesn't expect gang members to try to Americanize. Not yet. America's welfare state.
“Assimilation is not part of their plan,” she says. “I'm Hispanic, so I know that when Hispanics came into the United States as a culture, a lot of people made a choice: to rebel against the status quo, or to fit in and keep your head down and work.” They didn't give you anything, so you build that American dream from scratch. It's totally different now, because now [migrants] I've got everything. And if you combine that with the 'Let's take care of the homeless' initiative, they're all doing better than Americans. ”
Because she is a citizen, the government and charity programs in the area cannot help her, but they do help the immigrants living in the apartment building, many of whom are squatting. He said there was.
“There was no program that could help me with my contract,” she said. “I was the last tenant in my building. I watched them one by one as they kicked down every other door.”
Romero described crime mitigation policies that he believes are causing gangs to flock to cities like Aurora.
“The police told us at first we were ordered not to help. They couldn't help. This is a sanctuary city,” she said. “They can't leave unless there's a serious problem.”
The response from law enforcement and elected officials challenged Mr. Romero's fundamental beliefs since childhood.
“Like other taxpayers, I was taught growing up that if you had an emergency, you could call 911 and get help,” she said. “Sometimes I would call a non-emergency number and think, 'What if the police don't come? What can I do to stop this?' And they're like, 'I'm so sorry.' . We are very sorry that this situation has arisen. You can hear it over the phone. ”
Romero is happy to be living in a new home 30 minutes from her old apartment, but signs of gang activity in her new location are worrying her. She believes she is doing a valuable service, but she knows that by continuing to draw attention to the gang, she risks retaliation.
“As long as my face is out there and I'm shining a light on danger, I feel safer than I did when I lived there,” she said.
Bradley Jay is Breitbart News' Capitol Hill correspondent. Follow him on X/Twitter. @BradleyAJay.
