More than 300 Latino immigrants gathered in a sweltering Panorama City lot on Saturday to witness the birth of an unassuming hero -- a compact, dark-skinned man wearing a T-shirt, jeans, running shoes and a garish silver-and-blue mask.
They call him Super Mojado, or Super Wetback.
FOR THE RECORD
Mexican wrestling: An article in Sunday's California section about a Mexican-style wrestling match held to raise money for recently arrested immigrants referred to Spanish epithets hurled by the crowd as groceros. The correct word is groserias.
He was the star of a main wrestling event where bad guys in stretch pants worn under brightly colored underwear were supposed to get their lumps to raise funds for 130 illegal immigrants waiting to be deported. The immigrants were arrested during a recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at the Van Nuys headquarters of Micro Solutions Enterprises, a manufacturer of computer imaging supplies.
Tickets went for $10 a person, or whatever a customer could afford.
Super Mojado strode into the ring and climbed up on the ropes to declare his mission -- "I've come to fight against discrimination and for immigrants of all ethnic backgrounds!" Moments later he was confronted by a grimacing white foe whose affiliation was announced in the huge letters sewn onto the legs of his orange-and-black stretch pants: INS, the former acronym of the U.S. Immigration Service.
It was classic lucha libre, or Mexican "free fight," which is a popular form of teatro do los pobres, or poor man's theater, in which the good guys get beaten senseless and trampled while on their backs and gasping for breath. Then, as the referee is about to slap a open palm down on the mat for a third time, they rally and take care of business.
For their mostly working-class fans, the luchaderos embody the most pressing desires and hot-button issues of the moment. When the Mexican economy was in a nose dive, a tag team emerged as the Dollar and Peso.
Then there was Super Barrio, the poor man's friend, and Super Amores, a titan of love whose black costume was covered with red hearts.
Now, in the aftermath of a series of high-profile immigration raids that have separated parents from their children and focused renewed attention on deportation proceedings, Super Mojado has emerged to defend the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.
"You're going back to Mexico!" INS Man yelled as the crowd hurled a torrent of angry epithets, called groceros, at him.
Super Mojado and loyal sidekicks, including Matt of the Repo Show, didn't like that. Tag team warfare erupted in the ring.
