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 camera director of Channel N changes the frame, and does not return to the point.
The only images that are available are those of the people. Then you can see how they take Víctor Santisteban Yacsavilca (55 years old) badly injured and unconscious on a stretcher, with a bandage that covers his entire forehead. He had been shot in the head and at close range. It has not yet been made public whether it was a bullet or a pellet, but it struck 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 And it was there that a large group of demonstrators settled down, which half an hour later was withdrawn by the police with canes.
Around nine at night, 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, confirmed the death of the protester who was shot in the head live. and live: “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. Then the Ombudsman confirmed it. Víctor Santisteban Yacsavilca is the first deceased in Lima, the capital. According to some analysts, what this government feared so much, which 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).
The day was the most repressive of the week. Three seriously injured have been registered, two of them by firearm projectiles. Of the other affected person, Taine Isidoro Bedon Maguiña (47 years old), there is only one video where rescuers load him in a sheet and take him to a taxi, in the vicinity of Plaza San Martín. He was also unconscious. Due to the seriousness of his injuries, he was transferred to the Guillermo Almenara Hospital. His prognosis is guarded. On the police side, at least four are injured. Likewise, attacks against journalists have been reported, as in previous days.
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.
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