"Press conference regarding Ricardo Chavez Ortiz"

On April 13, 1972, Ricardo Chavez Ortiz hijacked a Frontier Airlines flight heading to Phoenix. His demand was that the plane land in Los Angeles so reporters from the area's Spanish language newspapers could be brought on board to hear his statement regarding the adverse conditions he had faced in the United States. In this footage, a man identified by a reporter as Mr. Corona is addressing the press in an outdoor setting. He discusses several different topics related to both the Chavez Ortiz hijacking and political prisoners in Mexico. Corona demands Mexican President Echeverría stop the repression of students, intellectuals and political figures in Mexico, and release such prisoners from the jails. He also talks about Ricardo Chavez Ortiz's act as two separate issues: a transgression of the law, as well as the moral and legal implications of that transgression. He urges governments and leaders of the world to take a position on behalf of that moral stance. Corona also urges people to demonstrate their solidarity with the Chicano and Mexican people in the United States and their plight by requesting Nixon grant clemency and a pardon to Ricardo Chavez Ortiz.

Note:  The KTLA newsfilm collection at UCLA consists of cut and unedited stories, outtakes and fill footage, originally shot on 16mm reversal film stock with magnetic soundtrack. Some footage, particularly material not used for broadcast, may be without sound.

< Back to the UCLA KTLA News Project