The cane fields in the town of Chichigalpa, in the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, Saturday stained with blood, when the National Police of this country brutally suppressed a peaceful protest of hundreds of sugarcane excortadores kept a few meters from the San Antonio, owned by the powerful Pellas Group, producer of the famous Ron Flor de Caña.
The police assault occurred, according to witnesses, in the evening hours, when the protest had dwindled a bit. Then, a police patrol opened fire. The bullets left at least three critically injured and one dead: Juan de Dios Cortes, 48, who along with his colleagues demanded compensation for being ill with CKD, a deadly epidemic that has savaged the cane cutters, and has left more than 3,400 dead in Nicaragua. In Central America, the deaths number more than 14,000. The pole of Grupo Pellas Chichigalpa blame for the disease, but have not yet been established to explain the direct causes mortality. Product of repression also injured a 14- year-old who was shot in the head. The boy was treated at the La Mascota hospital in Managua, with a guarded prognosis.
In Cologne Chichigalpa Jiménez, neighbors mourned Sunday at Cortez. The colony is a slum of dusty streets and ramshackle houses where children run barefoot and starving dogs sniff away. The colony rises behind the old cemetery Chichigalpa, I packed already dead, many of them for IRC. The body of John of God lay in a coffin Cortés given by the Police of Nicaragua, a Pyrrhic compensation for the man's death at the hands of his officers. The coffin was placed in the living room of the house, in a corner, right next to where the roof has not collapsed: the adobe house and old boards still standing miracle. " They killed him like an animal ", MarÃ_a del Carmen Chévez, wife of Cortez, with whom he had two daughters said. " It is an injustice that they have done. They were claiming their rights, not seeking litigation. He (her husband) wanted to have answered, because he was sick and needed his money, but instead it was giving him death, " the woman added.
Outside the house the neighbors commented on the events of Saturday night. José Daniel Espinoza Soto also excortador cane, he was told to drop dead Cortés: When the police opened fire, the two men tried to hide, but a bullet struck his fellow protest that fell. Espinoza load it in a clear plastic bag, cap the bullet that allegedly killed Cortés. " Ando this cap as evidence, because I will not come to me saying that what I say is a lie," says the man, who tells what happened Saturday night, " came a police patrol with three policemen Chichigalpa and the driver. Regulation took their guns and started shooting. "
Police of Nicaragua on Sunday issued a statement announcing that it has opened an investigation into the facts of Chichigalpa. The institution ensures that the policemen who shot cane former employees are suspended and arrested, "in order to bring those responsible to the order of the competent authorities to be subject to prosecution and penalties are imposed." In Chichigalpa, the local police chief, Francisco Ruiz, refused to give statements when asked. " I'm not allowed to talk," he said. Also silent local authorities. Nora Chavez, Deputy Mayor of the town, only said they were investigating what happened.
And while the Pellas Group disclaims any responsibility, the government of President Daniel Ortega silent about the epidemic. Several inquiries have not been answered by the Ministry of Health in Nicaragua. The pole blame the state of helplessness in which they find themselves, and their indignation resulted in anger on Saturday, when a police patrol shot at close range against a helpless and disarmed both official group protesting so tired of indolence, as of the major newspapers in Managua, which have silent protest sugarcane to link to a powerful business group that is a big advertiser.
On Sunday afternoon, in the wake of Juan de Dios Cortés, Martha Cruz Mercado, 48, said: " They killed him like a dog. It is a great sin what they did. I hope to God that this will have a punishment. The village is to be lifted. " Martha was the one who closed the eyes of Cortés when he died in the hospital Chichigalpa by a bullet police Nicaragua.
Tags: Blood, muddies, Nicaragua, reeds