Civil rights lawyer had ‘love for the people’ of S.A.
Luis Roberto Vera Jr., a longtime attorney known for championing Latino civil rights, passed away in his home in San Antonio over the weekend.
Vera, who died at 65 after battling an illness, was known as the national general counsel for the League of United Latin American Citizens, a national civil rights organization focused on Hispanic Americans.
“We have lost a friend, and our nation’s Latino community has lost one of its greatest defenders,” Domingo Garcia, LULAC national president, said in a statement. “Luis was a man whose fight for justice often took him from the streets of our poorest barrios in San Antonio to the marbled hallways of our federal courts. Judges knew when Luis Vera walked into their courtroom, he was there to win on behalf of millions of Latinos, and he did just that.”
LULAC, with Vera, filed lawsuits on a range of topics from voting rights to educational, employment and housing discrimination. Vera helped the organization navigate some of the toughest issues of its time, said Sindy Benavides, LULAC’S national chief executive officer.
“In days to come, I am certain that stories will abound from those who had the privilege and honor of working with him about the many tribulations Luis confronted, always with a sense of urgent purpose and very aware that his work was shaping our history,” Benavides said.
Vera remained active and worked until recently, according to LULAC.
He represented LULAC for years through various redistricting battles. He argued that Republican legislators drew the state’s political maps to minimize the electoral power of minority voters, which would violate the Voting Rights Act.
Vera was known for his redistricting fights, said Rosa Rosales, his friend and colleague from her time as president of LULAC.
The attorney’s work with LULAC was on a volunteer basis, she said; he did the work because it was the dedication that drove him.
“He was born making sure that everyone had an equal opportunity, had the right to vote, had a good quality of life, a good education,” Rosales said. “Some people are born with that passion, and Luis was one of them.”
Outside of his legal work, Rosales recalled that Vera enjoyed spending time with his family. She remembered him as a fighter who didn’t give up on a case, even when others at LULAC thought it might be a lost cause. He wanted to ensure that people who couldn’t afford legal representation had a chance to fight back.
In 2018, Vera wrote an opinion article for the Express-news about his passion for immigrants and those who remain unauthorized in the U.S., calling them his brothers and sisters. He wrote of his anger and what he considered disrespectful political conversations about Hispanic Americans as then-president Donald Trump pushed to build a wall along the U.s.-mexico border.
“Many do not understand the passion of the undocumented, because they have never been without the necessities to survive,” Vera wrote. “They have never been hungry.”
Through his life and work, Vera was “cut from the same civil rights cloth as Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta,” said Rodolfo Rosales Jr., the Texas state director for LULAC.
“He was fearless and argued with the fire and brimstone passion of a legal preacher,” Rodolfo Rosales said. “He was my trusted adviser and legal counsel in matters Latinos in Texas are confronting, perhaps more intensely than anywhere else in our country. Luis was more than an inspiration. He was my brother.”
Vera argued cases on a national level, but he always had a soft spot for his home.
“I think he loved San Antonio,” Rosa Rosales said. “I think he loved this city. Of course, he was a legal adviser all over the United States, but he had a love for the people of San Antonio.”