Chronicling Tragedy in Colorado: How Corrido Singer Diego Carrillo Responded to the Sentencing of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos
On Saturday December 18, 2021 El Houston Moreno, Alfredo Eladio Moreno had the pleasure of speaking with Diego Carrillo, California resident of Mexican background. Earlier the same day Carrillo caught the attention of El Houston Moreno with his viral TikTok, “EL CORRIDO DE ROGEL.” In the song he recounts the plight of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, who was recently handed a 110-year prison sentence after the runaway truck he was operating crashed and killed four people in Colorado.
On April 25, 2019 a then-twenty three year old Rogel caused an unfortunate and horrific accident on Interstate 70 eastbound. Although sober, he drove at 85 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone. Ultimately, the truck’s brakes failed which ultimately caused Rogel to lose control of the truck.
As the truck barreled down the freeway Rogel passed a runaway truck ramp, a point that the prosecution would emphasize in his court case two years later.
Rogel and the runaway truck eventually crashed into multiple cars, causing a pile-up. As the heap of metal burst into flames, smoke plumed into the air, alongside it the spirits of four people: Miguel Ángel Lamas Arellano, William Bailey, Doyle Harrison and Stanley Politano.
Perhaps Rogel’s spirit shattered as well. Two years after the accident, a now-twenty six year old Rogel recently faced trial. Testifying in his defense, facing the judge and awash with grief, he stated the following:
“My life has been very difficult, sad, depressing, terrible, bad since April 25, 2019. I know that it has been hard and heartbreaking for everyone involved in this tragedy. Your honor, I don’t know why I’m alive. And for what?
“This was a terrible accident, I know. I take the responsibility. But it wasn’t intentional.
“I would have preferred God taken me instead of them, because this is no life. I’m dying alive.”
Spectating Rogel’s penitence, other central actors in Rogel’s case held their own as the case proceeded. The victims’ families juggled the peace of forgiveness and the need for accountability. The judge expressed himself in a similar manner, stating, “I accept and respect what the defendant has said about his lack of intent to hurt people, but he made a series of terrible decisions, reckless decisions.” In their eyes, then, the question was not whether Rogel should be sentenced, but rather what punishment should be dealt.
After bidding against Rogel and winning, District Attorneys Kayla Wildeman and Trevor Moritzky celebrated their victory by exchanging a memento: a truck brake shoe converted into a trophy. Wildeman proudly brandished her trophy in a since-deleted Facebook post.
The sound of the gavel striking the block must have resounded particularly loud as the judge handed Rogel his 110-year sentence. According to the judge, the onus was on him to adjudicate in accordance with mandatory minimum sentencing laws. “If I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence,” he said.
Since the sentence, the American public has reacted tumultuously to the harsh sentence. First made in 2019 and recently resurfaced, a popular petition asking Colorado Governor Jared Polis for clemency or commutation as time served has accumulated millions of signatures.
Since the advent of the Internet and the smartphone, the American public has relied on social media as a default mode for channeling public grievance. (And perhaps the covid pandemic has cemented the online world’s presence in our life.) The tragedy of Colorado and Rogel Aguilera-Mederos is yet another instance showing us that this phenomenon is omnipresent. Even though tracts of the American public are still keen to organize in person, no one should deny that social media activism and awareness campaigns are paradigmatic of this era’s organizing strategies. This is our modus operandi now.
Working within this new social paradigm, Diego Carrillo channeled his musical talent into writing a corrido on Rogel’s story. A time-honored tradition in Mexico since the late nineteenth century, corridos are narrative ballads which have historically allowed Mexico’s masses to write the first draft of history from their perspective. According to Agustin Gurza, “corridos have documented the actions and exploits of the famous, the infamous and the anonymous everyman.” Persisting as an essential component of Mexican life, corridos continue to hold relevance today.
For corrido singer Diego Carrillo, the tradition is integral to his life. He’s liked singing and corridos since childhood, one of his major influences being his father who also sang. Yet, Carrillo cites corrido phenom Chalino Sánchez as his major influence. He believes that corridos can be written about anyone, although he himself prefers them to be about true stories.
It’s no surprise then that Rogel’s story caught Carrillo’s attention. After finding out through news and social media, Carrillo felt inspired to write a corrido about him. He calls Rogel’s situation an “injustice,” and sustains that anxiety overwhelmed the young truck driver as he sat behind the wheel.
Carrillo is shocked at the attention that his corrido has garnered online. At the same time he is inspired. Unidos jamás seremos vencidos, united we will not be defeated he confidently proclaimed in our conversation.
Although a repertoire of music uploaded to Spotify precedes Carrillo, he isn’t signed to a record label yet. This doesn’t stop his ambition, however. Carrillo hopes to eventually record and release the song.
All in all, El Houston Moreno believes that Carrillo’s corrido on Rogel is a product of its time. Rich historical traditions such as the corrido are encountering the digital realm, resulting in new ways that the art form spreads. The corrido is here to stay, and social media provides an outlet for them to persist and spread to ever larger audiences, both in the United States and Mexico. Still, if the result of this is heightened awareness, the question stands whether any change will come Rogel’s way.
For all the good that comes out of online publicity, it also has its limits. Bare-minimum engagement cannot be the end goal. We must not succumb to armchair activism. How can we expand our efforts to move beyond the digital realm? Although everyone’s response may be different, we should all have this question ready at our disposal. Answering it requires that we know how to translate our digital citizenship into the material world. For Diego Carrillo, this lies in his ambition to enter the studio, where he can proudly continue a time-honored Mexican tradition.
On the plight of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos: we must inform ourselves, keep up with developments and go out into the streets when possible, among other action items. While we should hope that the tide will turn for Rogel, we must not assume that he is the first or will be the last to face this predicament.
Conversations on mandatory minimum sentencing — a corrosive force in our judicial system that leads to declining outcomes for us all, above all non-white people who are disproportionately incarcerated — must continue.
El Houston Moreno thanks Diego Carrillo for sitting down in conversation with him. To find out more about Diego Carrillo follow him on Spotify under the same name, subscribe to his YouTube and engage with him on TikTok @diegocarrillooficial. He hopes that the public will support his latest project “Carta de Marquitos a Santa’’, the proceeds of which will go to helping needy kids this holiday season. For the full interview, visit this link.
