property

Alleging widespread and egregious violations of housing and tenant laws, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta sued Southern California real estate tycoon Mike Nijjar in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday.

In the lawsuit, Bonta accused Nijjar, family members and their companies of subjecting tenants to vermin infestations and overflowing sewage, overcharging them and violating anti-discrimination laws.

The suit says that Nijjar is one of California’s largest landlords, operating multibillion dollars in holdings. Nijjar family companies, commonly known as PAMA Management, own 22,000 rental units, primarily in low-income neighborhoods in Southern California.

The suit follows a more than two-year California Department of Justice investigation into Nijjar’s holdings, Bonta said.

“PAMA and the companies owned by Mike Nijjar and his family are notorious for their rampant, slum-like conditions — some so bad that residents have suffered tragic results,” Bonta said in a statement. “Our investigation into Nijjar’s properties revealed PAMA exploited vulnerable families, refusing to invest the resources needed to eradicate pest infestations, fix outdated roofs and install functioning plumbing systems, all while deceiving tenants about their rights to sue their landlord and demand repairs.”

Bonta is seeking penalties against Nijjar and his family business entities, restitution for tenants, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and injunctive relief barring Nijjar and PAMA from continuing unlawful business practices.

A representative for Nijjar said he forcefully rejects the claims in the lawsuit.

“The allegations in the complaint are false and misleading, and its claims are legally erroneous,” Nijjar attorney Stephen Larson said in a statement. “We look forward to demonstrating in court that Mr. Nijjar and his companies are not only compliant with the law, but they provide an extraordinary service to housing those disadvantaged and underserved by California’s public and private housing markets.”

Nijjar’s real estate empire has long been on authorities’ radar.

In 2020, LAist detailed wide-ranging dangerous conditions at Nijjar’s properties dating back years, including a fire at a PAMA-owned mobile home in Kern County that resulted in the death of an infant. The mobile home was not permitted for human occupancy, according to the report and Bonta’s lawsuit. Two years later, The Times wrote a series of stories about Chesapeake Apartments, a sprawling 425-unit apartment complex in South L.A., where Nijjar’s tenants complained of sewage discharges, regular mold and vermin infestations and shoddy repairs. Chesapeake had the most public health violations of any residential property in L.A. County over the previous five years, according to a Times analysis at the time.

Prior attempts at accountability for Nijjar and his companies have been spotty and ineffective. After the 2016 mobile home fire that killed the infant in Kern County, the California Department of Real Estate revoked the licenses associated with Nijjar’s company at the time. In response, Nijjar and family members reorganized their business structure, the suit said.

The L.A. city attorney’s office resolved a nuisance abatement complaint against PAMA at Chesapeake in 2018, only for the widespread habitability problems to emerge. A similar case filed by the city attorney’s office against a PAMA property in Hollywood remains in litigation more than three years after it was filed. In the meantime, Nijjar’s companies have settled multiple habitability lawsuits filed by residents.

Bonta said that PAMA has taken advantage of lax and piecemeal accountability efforts and its low-income tenants’ vulnerability. Most residents, he said, have low or fixed incomes with few alternatives other than to endure the shoddy conditions in their rentals.

The lawsuit alleges that the habitability problems at PAMA properties are “ongoing business practices” — the result of decisions to make cheap repairs rather than necessary investments in maintenance, the use of unskilled handymen, lack of staff training and failure to track tenant requests.

“Nijjar and his associates have treated lawsuit after lawsuit and code violation after code violation as the cost of doing business and have been allowed to operate and collect hundreds of millions of dollars each year from families who sleep, shower, and feed their children in unhealthy and deplorable conditions,” Bonta said. “Enough is enough.”

Besides tenants’ living conditions, the suit alleges Nijjar and PAMA have induced residents into deceptive leases, discriminated against tenants on public assistance programs and issued unlawful rent increases.

The suit contends PAMA’s leases attempt to invalidate rights guaranteed under law, including the opportunity to sue and make repairs the landlord neglected and deduct these costs from the rent. The company has told Section 8 voucher holders that there are no units available when others are being rented to applicants without vouchers, the complaint said.

The case alleges that PAMA has violated California’s rent cap law on more than 2,000 occasions. The law limits rent increases to 5% plus inflation annually at most apartments. PAMA, the suit says, shifted mandatory shared utility costs, which used to be paid by the landlord, onto tenants’ bills in an attempt to evade the cap. The combination of the new utility costs and rent hikes resulted in total increases of up to 20%, more than double the allowable amount, according to the suit.

JUNE is a popular time for people to move home, hopeful of being settled before the new school term.

But making sure you get the most out of a move can be stressful.

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However, property expert Liv Conlon – who stages homes for a living – has shared her essential 10 tips for boosting value.

And some cost just pennies but can had hundreds to the asking price.

Liv, 26, is the CEO of multi-award-winning ThePropertyStagers.co.uk, which furnishes more than 400 homes a year, as well as a StagerBoss – a coaching business teaching other women how to do the same.

The Scots mum, who was brought up in Glasgow and now lives in Marbella with son Cash and mum Ali, says: “From posh pillows to hotel-style bedding, the right styling can make buyers fall in love and nudge them above the asking price.

“So before you stick up the For Sale sign, check out these smart, simple ways to get buyers battling to pay more than the asking price.”

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

A buyer decides in 10 seconds whether they are going to buy your home or not – so your entrance and hallway need to make a good first impression.

Make it warm and welcoming. Buy a new door mat that’s only used for viewings, with no dirty shoe marks, and place two identical plants at either side of the door – which is either clean, new or given a lick of paint. Opt for colours such as black or navy blue so it looks ‘classy’, rather than something more ‘out there’.

Clear away the clutter, and lose the smelly shoes and dumped coats.

LIVING ROOM VISION

The living room is the heart of the home – and buyers know it. It’s where they picture relaxing with a glass of wine, watching TV, or hosting friends.

Get this room wrong and you risk turning off even the most interested buyer. Make it feel spacious but not sterile, styled but still homely.

Pull sofas away from the walls to create cosy conversation zones, and use a large rug to anchor the space – this helps define it and adds warmth.

Then ditch harsh overhead lights and go for soft lamps, layered lighting and oversized accessories to give a sense of luxury. Use neutral tones for your sofa and walls, then add depth with textured throws, scatter cushions and artwork.

GO BIG

Tiny trinkets and dinky lamps really don’t cut it when you’re trying to wow a buyer. One of the biggest styling mistakes sellers make is going too small with their accessories – it makes your home look underwhelming.

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If you want to create that lux, showhome feel, size matters. Think
big and bold. Oversized lamps on side tables make a dramatic statement, especially when paired with plush sofas or layered cushions.

Chunky candlesticks, large framed art or statement vases add instant impact – and make the space feel styled, not stuffed.

DON’T LOO-SE OUT

Bathrooms are an important room but are often forgotten about when it comes to staging. The key to success with styling this room is to compliment not clutter.

You can do this by adding simple styling accessories, layers and textures. Consider pops of colour in your accessories, such as a soap dispenser or a toothbrush holder, which you can pick up for as little as £3 in places like Home Bargains. This draws the eye and helps your images jump off the page.

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Add textures with towels and bath mats, but also through the type of glass or ceramic in your accessories. Small touches can have a big impact.

RIGHT RUG

Rugs are the unsung heroes of home staging – they define spaces, add texture and instantly warm up any room. In large, open-plan layouts, rugs create natural boundaries between living,
dining and kitchen zones, making the space feel organised and inviting.

Don’t overlook the ‘forgotten’ spaces – utility rooms, hallways or entryways can be transformed with a well-chosen rug to feel cosy and purposeful.

Rugs can tie together the design elements, especially through colour and texture, in a space while providing a cosy and inviting atmosphere.

They can also significantly reduce noise levels by absorbing sound – a quieter home is always more appealing to buyers.

ALL WHITE

Five-star hotels use crisp, white bedding for a reason, as it exudes luxury and cleanliness, and it immediately puts a viewer at ease.

Patterned or busy linens can feel cluttered and overly personal, turning off potential buyers. Investing in high-quality, bright white sheets creates a serene, spa-like oasis that invites buyers to imagine themselves unwinding there.

The clean, neutral backdrop also lets you introduce pops of colour and texture with cushions and throws – easy updates that make the room feel stylish without overwhelming the senses.

GET DRESSED

Layering is the secret to making your home feel styled, warm and high-end – without overdoing it.

In the bedroom, start with white sheets, then double up on duvets: one laid flat, the second folded neatly at the end for a boutique hotel look. Use feather insert cushions -not flat polyfills – and build texture with velvet throws, faux fur or quilted finishes.

In the living room, mix cushion sizes and textures on your sofa – linen, boucle, chunky knit – to add depth. Coffee tables and
sideboards should be styled too: think a stack of hardback books, a sculptural candle and one standout vase. Keep it intentional, not cluttered.

STAR OF THE SHOW

Not much beats getting ready at a dressing table. The feeling of space and time – rather than catching a quick glimpse in the closet mirror before rushing out the front door.

Create that same feeling in your bedroom by setting up a designated space in your bedroom to put on make-up and style your hair.

This can be a dual purpose area that could also double up as a work from home space too. To add real luxury, add a table standing mirror, and opt for a mirrored dressing table if your budget allows.

CLEAR OFF

Nothing puts buyers off faster than clutter. It makes rooms feel smaller and chaotic. When people view your home, they’re not just looking at the space – they’re imagining their life in it.

That’s hard to do if every surface is piled high with post, toys or toiletries. Start by stripping back.

Clear kitchen worktops, bedside tables and bathroom counters. Invest in clever storage: ottomans with lift-up lids, under-bed boxes and baskets for toys or blankets.

Hide away anything personal or bulky. Less stuff equals more space.

MIRROR IMAGE

Create symmetry in your rooms with matching bedside tables on either side of the bed. Not only does this add practicality and storage, but it instantly makes the room feel more polished.

Then, top each table with oversized, identical lamps – these create drama and a high-end vibe without breaking the bank.

Symmetry tricks the eye into seeing order and elegance, making your
bedroom feel like a five-star retreat buyers won’t forget.

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When the Spa at Séc-he opened its doors in Palm Springs in 2023, it welcomed guests to a 73,000-square-foot facility with mineral-rich bathing waters, resort-style pools, salt caves, steam rooms and a slew of indulgent amenities, all without requiring booking a treatment.

Of course, massages, facials and the like are available, but a major draw of visiting Séc-he is simply to spend the day cocooned within its grounds.

The spa isn’t alone in selling day passes to visitors. North of Palm Springs in Desert Hot Springs, many hotels pump mineral waters from the ground into oasis-like enclaves where spa-goers can soak for the day without staying overnight.

And further south in Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert and Indian Wells, some of the splashiest resorts in the valley offer day pass admission to deeply impressive spas. Think aromatherapy showers, menthol-infused dry saunas, zero-gravity lounge chairs and secluded pools all for a fraction of the price of an all-too-short 50-minute treatment.

As a Coachella Valley resident, I’ve spent the day at many spas in the area. Most sell passes on the third-party website ResortPass, while a few are available to purchase directly. They range in price from $54 to $155 (inclusive of ResortPass fees, where applicable) and some include full use of the resort’s pools and amenities for exceptional value.

Just know that day passes are generally limited in quantity to save space for guests booking treatments and to avoid crowding, so if you have a specific date in mind, book far in advance. Some properties also enact time limits, have age requirements and may or may not include parking or food for purchase. And if you’re a local, speak up. Many spas grant discounts to those residing within the valley.

I’ve soaked, steamed, swam and relaxed as hard as humanly possible at every property listed below. If all you have is one day to chill and don’t want to fork over hundreds of dollars for a treatment that never seems long enough, these spas will leave you feeling nearly as blissful as if you had. Just plan to clear your entire day. Two, three, four hours — at all of these properties, I promise you it won’t be enough.

Mess with 50 Cent and he might come for your house — even if it takes him a few years to do it.

The rapper’s company Sire Spirits got the OK last week from a federal judge to seize the Connecticut home of former Sire executive Mitchell Green as partial payment toward a $7-million debt after a federal bankruptcy judge lifted an automatic stay that had prevented transfer of the property.

That took 50 Cent — real name Curtis Jackson III — and his legal team a little more than four years to accomplish, from when Green confessed to embezzling from his employer via a kickback scheme involving wholesalers until last week when the stay came off the house.

Branson Cognac and Chemin du Roi Champagne, both owned by Jackson, are managed through Sire Spirits. Green admitted in February 2020 that he had been raising prices and getting kickbacks from wholesalers that were labeled “agency fees,” the New York Post reported in 2022 and 2023.

Sire Spirits filed a request with the U.S. District Court, New York Southern, on Sept. 1, 2021, for confirmation of an arbitration agreement of a little less than $3.5 million in damages, according to court documents reviewed by The Times.

Green had been embezzling from 2018 into 2020, when someone attempted to blackmail him over the $2.2 million in kickbacks, according to AllHipHop. At that point, Green told his employer what he’d done. Sire Spirits fired him and went into arbitration, which was settled in Sire’s favor. With attorney fees and legal costs rolled in, the November 2022 final judgment totaled around $6.3 million.

In March 2023, the disgraced businessman filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, which was still going on when Sire Spirits’ legal team secured a judgment lien against Green’s home in Westport, Conn., according to the court documents.

Green’s legal team had been providing court-ordered updates on the status of the property, always stating that Green was still in bankruptcy proceedings and therefore still had that automatic stay protecting his home. But last week, Sire’s attorneys asked the bankruptcy judge to get rid of the stay, saying that Green had no equity in the home due to the size of the judgment against him and therefore the property didn’t need to be part of his liquidation.

The judge agreed and lifted the stay.

The Connecticut home was appraised in late April at $1 million. That value will ultimately be credited against the judgment plus pre- and post-judgment interest, which now totals around $7 million.

Although Jackson has mentioned Branson Cognac recently on social media, he hasn’t said anything about the legal victory. In the last week, the rapper has been enjoying himself by poking fun at Sean “Diddy” Combs, a.k.a. “Puffy,” who is mired in a federal sex trafficking and conspiracy trial, where prosecution witnesses have been testifying.

“Cut, CUT … Wait a minute PUFFY’s got a gun, I can’t believe this I don’t feel safe … LOL,” Jackson wrote Tuesday on social media, posting screen shots of new testimony from Combs’ former assistant Capricorn Clark. Clark told the court that Combs said something about guns that she took as him making a threat against Jackson.

“Oh my goodness itty bitty Diddy wants me Dead,” the entrepreneur and provocateur said in a follow-up post. “I have to lay low, I think I’m gonna hide out at the playoff game tonight LOL.” He posted a comical picture of himself looking completely freaked out.

The New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers should be tipping off right about now.

I am a photo fellow at the L.A. Times, and recently spent three days photographing for the Motel California project at the Skyview Los Alamos. What immediately struck me was how tucked away in the hills the motel was, even with its close proximity to the freeway. While only two hours away from L.A., I felt like I was in a totally different place.

The motel turns 100. Explore the state’s best roadside havens — and the coolest stops along the way.

I captured the iconic yellow “Motel” sign by the pool, the turquoise Moke shuttle, and lots of unique fixtures. Having three days to photograph an assignment is rare in daily news, so I felt lucky to be able to spend more time in certain spots of the property and reshoot in different lighting situations. Good light is critical to making a good photo, so I made the most of golden hour during my visit. All of the pops of orange, yellow and teal around the property complemented warm light well. I loved that most of the plants were succulents and cactuses, giving the place a desert feel on the Central Coast. When I look at all the photos as a whole, I feel the sense of calm and warmth I experienced while I was there.

— Juliana Yamada, photography fellow

Ramsey 29 motel in Twentynine Palms. Owner Ashton Ramsey took over a motor lodge that dates to the 1940s.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Rocky details at the Pearl. (Megan Morello / For The Times)

Decorative brick from the Mojave Sands Motel in Joshua Tree. (David Fouts / For The Times)

The Atomic Bombshell Room at the Trixie Motel.

(David Fouts / For The Times)

Rooms 13 and 14 at the Skyview Motel.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

The Skylark Hotel sign in Palm Springs.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Alamo Motel sign in Los Alamos, from left. Peach Tree Inn sign in San Luis Obispo. Motel Capri sign in San Francisco. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The Skyview Motel sign, from left. The River Lodge sign in Paso Robles. The Pacific Motel sign in Cayucos. (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times; Jacob Tovar / For The Times)

The Mojave Sands Motel sign.

(David Fouts / For The Times)

The Sea & Sand Inn’s no vacancy/vacancy sign in Santa Cruz.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The Surfrider Malibu as seen from the Pacific Coast Highway.

(Al Seib / For The Times)

The entrance to the Norman restaurant at the Skyview Motel.

The pool viewed through decorative pool-side furnishings at the Skyview Motel. (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Wallpaper inside the Trixie Motel.

(David Fouts / For The Times)

The toilet paper at the Hotel Wren is marked with its initials. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Folded toilet paper at the Skyview Motel. (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

A view of a room inside the Ramsey 29 motel in Twentynine Palms.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A detail of a patio pillow at The Pearl Hotel. (Megan Morello / For The Times)

A detail of the shower handle in a room at the River Lodge. (Jacob Tovar / For The Times)

A room inside the Crystal Pier Hotel in Pacific Beach, San Diego.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The Wigwam Motel buildings in San Bernardino.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A room at the Skylark Hotel.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

The Hotel del Sol is a boutique hotel in San Francisco aiming to rise above its roots as a budget motel.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A room at Glen Oaks Hotel in Big Sur.

(Nic Coury / For The Times)

Situated on Market Street, Beck’s has a front-row seat to the main artery of San Francisco. The motel still offers free on-site parking, with a walkable location that provides ample access to public transportation, including the historic F-Market line.

(Megan Bayley / For The Times)

A decorative room at the Madonna Inn.

(Nic Coury / For The Times)

Old-school keys from the Hacienda del Sol, from left, in Borrego Springs, the Skylark Hotel in Riverside and Glen Oaks Resort Adobe Motor Lodge. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A gathering space at the Haley Hotel in Santa Barbara.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

A view of an outdoor space connected to a room at the Pearl Hotel.

(Megan Morello / For The Times)

A detail of a bedroom door at the Mojave Sands Motel. (David Fouts / For The Times)

Two robes hang in a room at the Surfrider Malibu. (Al Seib / For The Times)

Happy guests at restaurant-bar Ponyboy at the Pearl Hotel in San Diego.

(Megan Morello / For The Times)

Cocktails served at the Trixie Motel in Palm Springs. (David Fouts / For The Times)

The cocktails at Ponyboy at the Pearl Hotel in San Diego. (Megan Morello / For The Times)

A guest’s dog wanders near the pool area of the Pearl in San Diego. (Megan Morello / For The Times)

A rabbit hops away at the Mojave Sands Motel in Joshua Tree. (David Fouts / For The Times)

The outdoor shower at the Skyview Motel. (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

A wooden outdoor patio chair at the Mojave Sands Motel in Joshua Tree. (David Fouts / For The Times)

The Surfrider Malibu is located across Pacific Coast Highway from the Malibu Pier and Surfrider Beach, famous for its surfing, and is close to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

(Al Seib / For The Times)

A view of the pool from inside the property at the Trixie Motel in Palm Springs.

(David Fouts / For The Times)

The pool at the Skyview Motel is seen through a window at the Norman restaurant.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Pool-side textures on the grounds of the Pearl Hotel. (Megan Morello / For The Times)

The pool steps at the Trixie Motel. (David Fouts / For The Times)

The cactus garden at the Trixie Motel.

(David Fouts / For The Times)

May 20 (UPI) — Authorities in Britain have arrested a third suspect in connection with a fire set at a home owned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The unidentified 34-year-old was arrested Monday morning in Chelsea on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life, Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

The arrest comes after a 26-year-old was arrested Saturday and a 21-year-old was arrested May 13.

The 21-year-old suspect has since been identified as Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, of Sydenham, London.

The Crown Prosecution Service on Thursday authorized Lavrynovych to be charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life.

Authorities accuse the three suspects of being involved in three fires set at north London residences.

The first fire was set on May 8, another on May 11 and the third on May 12.

The most recent fire was lit at a residence in Kentish Town that is owned by the prime minister, who is currently living at his official 10 Downing Street residence with his family. The targeted home was being rented out at the time of the incident.

No injuries were reported in connection with any of the fires.

Looking back, casting Diego Luna in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” may well prove to be the single most consequential decision in that storied franchise’s history. Hearing Luna’s Mexican accent in a galaxy far, far away was not only refreshing. It was radical.

And as Season 2 of “Andor” proved, it set the stage for what has to be the most Latino-coded of all the “Star Wars” tales, which is fitting considering this Tony Gilroy-created series was designed not just to explore Cassian Andor’s backstory but flesh out the dashing revolutionary spirit Luna had brought to the character. What better place to, pardon the pun, mine for inspiration than the vast history of resistance and revolution throughout the American continent?

Here are a few ways in which “Andor” felt particularly Latino.

Warning: this article contains some spoilers.

Undocumented laborers

Season 2 of “Andor” found Cassian, Bix (Adria Arjona), Brasso (Joplin Sibtain) and Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier) relocated to the agricultural planet of Mina-Rau. It’s a place that served as a safe haven for these Ferrix folks, allowing them to be housed while working for a local farmer — all without papers. Yes, our very own Cassian is an undocumented laborer (when he’s not, you know, on some super-secret Luthen-guided mission, that is).

“Andor” has always focused on the way the Empire functions at a granular level, while the “Star Wars” feature film trilogies are all about big-picture stuff. In its two-season run, this Luna-fronted project followed the day-to-day lives of those living under the thumb of the Empire. And in the scenes at Mina-Rau, the show insisted on showing what happens when those with a semblance of power (a uniform, a weapon) confront those who they think have none.

When Lt. Krole (Alex Waldmann), a lowly Imperial officer carrying out a run-of-the-mill audit of the crops in Mina-Rau, comes across Bix, he sees an opportunity. She’s clearly alone. And, perhaps most obviously, at a disadvantage: She has no papers. If she’s caught, the secure, if precarious, life she and Cassian have built in Mina-Rau will come crumbling down — all while putting them at risk of being revealed as smugglers and rebels.

Still, watching Krole escalate his slimy sexual advances into a rape attempt was a reminder of the impunity of such crimes. When those who are undocumented are seen as undeserving of our empathy, let alone the protections the law is supposed to provide — like many people in our current government seem to think — the likes of Krole are emboldened to do as they please.

Hiding in plain sight and los desaparecidos

Such ideas about who merits our empathy are key to authoritarian regimes. Borders, after all, aren’t just about keeping people out or in. It’s about drawing up communities and outlining outsiders; about arguing for a strict sense of who belongs and who does not.

When Cassian and Bix land in Coruscant after their escape from Mina-Rau, they struggle with whether to just lay low. You see Cassian being jumpy and constantly paranoid. He can’t even handle going out shopping; or, if you follow Bix’s winking joke at the grocer, he can’t really handle the spice. But that’s expected if you constantly feel unsafe, unable to freely move through the world, er, galaxy.
More tellingly: If your existence is wedded to bureaucracy, it’s easy to be dispensed with and disappeared. Bix knows that all too well. She’s still haunted by the specter of Dr. Gorst (Joshua James), the Imperial Security Bureau officer who tortured her. He appears in her nightmares to remind her that this is a war now littered with “desaparecidos”: “His body won’t be found and his family won’t know what happened to him,” his hallucination taunts her. It’s not hard to read in that line an obvious reference to those tortured and disappeared under the military dictatorships of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the like.

Throughout “Andor” Season 2, we also watched the Empire slowly rev up its border policing — especially when it came to Ghorman. At first a planet most known for its gorgeous textiles, Ghorman later became the anchor for the show’s entire narrative. The best way to control a people is to surveil them, particularly because soon enough they’ll start surveilling themselves.

The Ghorman Massacre

The beauty of “Star Wars” has always been its ability to speak to its time. When the original film first premiered in 1977, echoes of the Vietnam War and anti-imperialist sentiment could be felt in its otherwise outlandish space-opera trappings. But not until “Andor” could the politics of George Lucas’ creation be so viscerally felt. This is a show, after all, that didn’t shy away from using the word “genocide” when rightly describing what happened in Ghorman.

In “Who Are You?” audiences got to see the Empire at its cruelest. Watching the Death Star destroy Alderaan from afar is one thing. But getting to watch Stormtroopers — and a slew of young, inexperienced Imperial riot police officers — shooting indiscriminately into a crowd that had just been peacefully singing in protest was brutal. It was, as Senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) would later frame it, unconscionable.

The chants in the crowd “The galaxy is watching” are clearly meant to evoke the chants heard at the 1968 Democratic National Convention: “The whole world is watching.” But the essence of the massacre harks back to another infamous 1968 event: the Tlatelolco massacre.

Just like Ghorman, the Oct. 2 student protests at Mexico City’s Plaza de las Tres Culturas began as a peaceful demonstration. But soon, with helicopters up above and an encroaching military presence from every which way, chaos followed and the incident has long served as a chilling example of state-sanctioned violence. The kind now best distilled into a fictional massacre in a galaxy far, far away.

Villa, Zapata, Andor

In the hands of Gilroy and Luna, “Andor” billed itself over two seasons as the begrudging rise of a revolutionary. Cassian spent much of Season 1 trying to hide from who he could become. It took being sent to a grueling slave prison complex in a remote location (sound familiar?) to further radicalize the once-smug smuggler.

But with every new Empire-sanctioned atrocity, he found himself unable to escape his calling as a member of the Resistance. Yes, it costs him his peaceful life with Bix, but neither would have it any other way. Cassian has a solid moral compass. And while he may not play well with others (with authority, really), he’s a charming leader of sorts whose childhood in Ferrix set him up to be the kind of man who would sacrifice his life for a cause.

You don’t need to have Luna sport a mustache, though, to see in his rascal of a character hints of revolutionary icons from Latin America. Even if Cassian is more Emiliano Zapata than Pancho Villa (you’d never find him starring in films as himself, for instance), the revolutionary spirit of those historical Mexican figures is undeniable. Especially since Cassian has long been tied to the marginalized — not just in Ferrix and Mina-Rau but later still in Ghorman.

Add the fact that his backstory grounds him in the indigenous world of Kenari and that he is quite at home in the lush jungles of Yavin IV (where he may as well be playing dominoes in his spare time) and you have a character who clearly carves out homages to resistance models seen all over Latin America.

As attacks on those most disenfranchised here in the United States continue apace, “Andor” (yes, a spinoff sci-fi series on Disney+!) reminds us that the Latin American struggles for liberation in the 20th century aren’t mere historical stories. They’re warnings and templates as to how to confront this moment.

And yes, that message obviously works best when delivered by the devilishly handsome Luna: “The Empire cannot win,” as his Cassian says in the first episode of the show’s stellar second season. “You’ll never feel right unless you’re doing what you can to stop them. You’re coming home to yourself. You’ve become more than your fear. Let that protect you.”