AOC chief of staff resigns, eyes set on Mexico

In a change for “Squad” leader New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), her chief of staff jumped ship with an eye on Mexico.

After more than four years working in the U.S. House of Representatives, nearly three of which were spent as the congresswoman’s top aide, Gerardo Bonilla Chávez cited burnout as a major factor in parting ways with his functions at the end of October.

With his last official day marked, the now-former chief of staff spoke to The New Republic on Wednesday where he discussed the “otherness” of growing up in Minnesota after being born in Bakersfield, Calif., to farm workers from Mexico.

“I felt my otherness. I distanced myself from my Mexican culture, avoiding things like speaking Spanish, while doing things to try to fit in, like wearing Abercrombie and Fitch,” Bonilla Chávez told the interview after explaining how her older sister had told her about the move to Minnesota. “People will hate you here for who you are.”

The “otherness” was further described as “gringo oppression,” and according to the outlet, the Capitol Hill staffer said he was known in the office as “G,” now “plans to travel to Mexico City to first time to spend a month there, to recharge, and maybe go back to the Beltway and go back to the progressive work that motivates him.”

Bonilla Chavez was hired in graduate school by New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich (D) where she used her master’s degree in public policy and economic policy from the University of Minnesota to serve as an advisor.

Ocasio-Cortez told The New Republic that she considered the aide to New York Rep. Nydia Velasquez (D) called “Fabuloso”: “The perspective that G brings is not only rooted in reading about experiences of the working class, but rooted and coming from that life.”

That said, the most important contribution cited seemed to be that “G” had made sure the congresswoman locked herself in the office bathroom on January 6th.

“I was face down at my desk when I heard a knock on the outer door of our office,” he had told The New Republic. “I didn’t know who it was, but it wasn’t like a normal hit. It was more aggressive than that, like a loud, sudden knock on the door.”

According to the outlet, “G quickly sprang into action, telling Ocasio-Cortez to lock herself in the office bathroom and then close the exterior door to her workspace. There had been no announcement over the loudspeakers , no email guide from the House Sergeant-at-Arms, no reason for anyone to knock on the door so violently.The banging continued as G secured his boos behind two sets of locked doors and then opened the front door of his office. A US Capitol Police officer yelled, “Where is he? Where is she?'”

The New York lawmaker said “I think so” when asked if Bonilla Chavez was a hero.

Monday, Punchbowl News reported that Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders’ deputy chief of staff, Mike Casca, would move to the lower house to serve as the congresswoman’s new chief of staff.

Staff writer

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College, where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and seeker of truth, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and dog, and when he’s not researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel ·the.

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