RESILIENCE
Mysterious and beloved, Antonio Camarillo is at home forever in the San Diego shrine he protected
CHICANO PARK’S
GUARDIAN ANGEL By LESLEY GARATE
BARRIO LOGAN —
His best friend Jose Cruz Mendoza io Camarillo was a said Chicano Park embraced Tio and he mystery, even in death. embraced the park. Like a lost angel he “They took good care of each other,” seemed to drop in from Mendoza said. “He was always there, out of nowhere. When keeping an eye on things.” he left the Earth in Gente Unida founder Enrique Morones February, admirers called said it was no accident Chicano Park was him a guardian angel returning to Heaven. always pristine and void of graffiti during His 33 years of fiercely loyal stewardship Camarillo’s residency as its guardian angel. of Chicano Park earned him the honorific Morones said he often escorted university “Guardian Angel” and a place on a mural students and Chicano scholars to Chicano alongside other Chicano heroes. Camarillo Park. An introduction to Camarillo was part would say he was no angel but he embraced of the ritual. El Angel Guardian would regale the role of guardian. them with stories. Little is known about the early life “Tio loved our beautiful Chicano Park of Antonio Chavez “Tio” Camarillo very much and made sure it was always other than he was originally from spotless,” said Morones. “He knew so Guanajuato, Mexico and a huge much about the park. He was kind of fan of the Club Leon soccer like a (museum) docent and would team. He was once married, answer questions if you asked him. but no one seems to know if He was an encyclopedia of park he had any children. Nor did history.” acquaintances know what he Camarillo, after 33 years, was did in Mexico before crossing la almost as iconic to the park as its frontera for good in 1989. Tio Camarillo world-renown murals and colorful He came upon Chicano Park Indio-Chicano ceremonies. His long and rarely left. Without housing for most of silver mustache, caballero sombrero and his 33 years in the United States, Camarillo cowboy boots were unmistakable, as was his considered Chicano Park home. insistence that the past stay in the past.
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EL SOL / SUMMER 2022
