02/09/2026 Rufino Contreras asked for ‘a more just share’ of what he produced; 47 years ago the company answered him with bullets

Forty seven years ago, on Feb. 10, 1979, 22 days into a bitter vegetable strike, Rufino Contreras, 28, and half a dozen fellow strikers walked into an Imperial Valley lettuce field owned by Mario Saikhon to talk with a crew of imported scabs. Three armed company foremen opened up with a vicious crossfire. Rufino fell face down in a muddy row, shot in the face. His father Lorenzo, brother Jose Luis, and other Saikhon strikers tried to aid Rufino, but they were kept away for more than an hour by continuing gunfire from the foremen. Finally, sheriff's deputies arrived and called an ambulance. Rufino died in the hospital.

Rufino had not been on the picket line for several days because he was caring for his 25-year old wife, Rosa, who was in the hospital after being seriously burned in an accident at their home in Mexicali, just across the border in Mexico. They had a son, Julio Cesar, 5, and a daughter, Nancy Berenice, 4. The day before he died, Rufino proudly showed his friends papers affirming his wife was covered under the United Farm Workers' medical plan. He was a loyal union member and wanted to return to the picket line.

When Rosa was told about Rufuno's death, through her profound grief, she described Rufino as a kind and gentle husband and father who never drank at bars at night and always put his family first. Rosa, heavily bandaged and in a wheelchair, went to see her husband's body at the funeral home. Leaving, she said to Rufino, "Vete tranquilo, mi amor. Yo cuidare a tus hijos" ("Go in peace, my love. I will take care of your children").

Rufino's father Lorenzo said his son was a hard worker who always did his best for the grower, Saikhon. He hadn't missed a single day of work as a lettuce cutter in two years, even when suffering from a bad case of the flu.

The three foremen were quickly released on $5,000 each, the lowest bond for murder in memory, by Superior Court Judge William Lenhardt. The judge's wife earlier joined 300 grower wives and other Anglo high school students and townspeople in a futile one-day attempt to harvest lettuce in a struck field. The judge later dismissed charges against the foremen because he said there was no way to prove which of the three fired the fatal bullet.

Thousands of farm worker mourners held candlelight marches through the streets of the small Imperial Valley border town of Calexico. Many more attended an outdoor funeral mass there on Feb. 14, using a flatbed truck as an altar at "El Hoyo," a shape up area where farm workers showed up to get jobs next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence. Those at the mass, including Gov. Jerry Brown will never forget a weeping Rosa Contreras, still bandaged and in a wheelchair from her injuries, being hugged by her young son, Julio Cesar. The child broke into uncontrolled cries of "Mi papa, mi papa, mi papa."