Police repression claims its first death in Lima | International

A body has just collapsed in front of the television cameras of a cable channel. There are ten minutes to eight at night, on Abancay avenue, in the center of Lima, and a group of protesters is on the sidewalk, watching the Police. They are not throwing stones, or bottles, or anything. Behind, a toxic smoke composes the picture of a war scene. Then, a noise is heard and a man falls to the ground. People shout: “Bala, bala, bala”, while a pool of blood begins to stain the sidewalk. Instead of reporting the attack, the Canal N camera director asks to change the frame, and does not come back to the point. Then the transmission was interrupted.

The only images that are available are those of the people. Then you can see how they take Taine Isidoro Bedon Maguiña (47 years old), badly injured and unconscious on a stretcher, with a bandage that covers his entire forehead. They had shot him in the head, and the impact knocked him down. The volunteer brigades took him to the Grau de EsSalud Emergency Hospital. And it was there that a large group of demonstrators settled down, which half an hour later was withdrawn by the police with canes. Due to the seriousness of his injuries, he was transferred to the Guillermo Almenara Hospital. His prognosis is guarded: he has a brain injury.

But it would not be the most tragic of the night: Víctor Santisteban Yacsavilca (55 years old) became the first deceased in Lima, the capital. There is only one video of him where rescuers load him in a sheet and take him to a taxi, in the vicinity of Plaza San Martín. He too was shot in the head, but it was at such close range that he was killed. Dr. Antonio Quispe, who held public office in the Ministry of Health and currently coordinates the medical brigades that are providing assistance in the mobilizations, is blunt: “We did what we could but the patient had a severe head injury with exposure of a brain mass. In simple, they blew his brains out, ”he lamented on his Twitter account. The Ombudsman's Office later confirmed the death.

The day was the most repressive of the week. Thirteen injured civilians have been registered. On the police side, at least four are injured. Likewise, attacks against journalists have been reported, as in previous days. In addition, the agents arrested fifteen demonstrators.

While the center of Lima became a massive parade of indignation and courage, in Jesús María, on Avenida de la Peruanidad, the so-called "Concert for Peace" was held by groups that are against the citizen claim that demands the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, the advancement of elections and the change of Constitution. The call was not massive. Saturday comes to an end with the first protester to lose his life in Lima. It had not happened since the November protests during the brief government of Manuel Merino, who resigned the next day after the loss of two boys. According to some analysts, what this government feared so much that it already carries 58 deaths on its shoulders (47 civilians and a policeman due to clashes, and ten civilians due to the blockade of the roads).

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