The status of Luis Reyes Rodríguez, a 28-year-old young man who participated in the October 15 protests in the center of Lima, remains critical after receiving the impact of a blunt object on the head that has left him in a coma. Despite this, four days later, The facts have not yet been clarified and there are no responsible parties. due to harsh police repression.
However, The Republic has accessed a video that provides new clues about this unfortunate case. In addition, he has spoken with two witnesses who are willing to testify before the Prosecutor’s Office so that Luis Rodríguez’s relatives can find answers and, above all, justice.
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The images, which were provided to this newspaper by Manuela Camacho, a journalist from Megafono, reveal the moments before and after the impact on the head suffered by the urban musicianalso known as Flipown, when the National Police was withdrawing the protesters outside Plaza San Martín.
At first, in the video – which lasts one minute and nine seconds – you can see how a contingent of police officers, stationed between Nicolás de Piérola avenue and Carabaya street, launches tear gas bombs, at a short distance, from the protesters who were retreating towards San Martín square. Suddenly, at the 15th second the shot changes, it focuses on the people running, and, 15 seconds later, several protesters are seen dragging a bloodied young man and unconscious. It was Luis Reyes Rodríguez, who later had to be evacuated to the Loayza hospital by the brigade members.
“I am willing to testify before the authorities because I was just meters away from what happened to Luis,” says Camacho, who was doing a live broadcast as a journalist.
“I was first in Abancay and Nicolás de Piérola, where they were gassing unnecessarily until I arrived at Plaza San Martín, to rejoin thinking that everything was going to be calm, as always (…) There I was recording and in a short time the Police arrived and began to throw tear gas bombs and shoot what would be pellets. It was dangerous because a shot could hit you in the body and that was lethal. within walking distance. That’s why I covered myself in a column in the square and there I managed to capture Luis Reyes in the broadcast bloodied on the ground, without reacting, with people asking for help,” the journalist details. The Republic.
Camacho questions that the police officers have launched tear gas bombs at close range and at the bodies of the protesters who were in Plaza San Martín because they were already leaving. “It really could have happened to any of us.”she laments, affected by what she saw and experienced that night.
The journalist confirms that she is willing to hand over to the Prosecutor’s Office the only video there is of the moment in which Luis Rodríguez is hit by the blunt object and the previous situation, because the context in which it occurred is important so as not to say that the young man was doing mischief.
“My video is going to have to go through a technological process from the Public Ministry and they are going to have to watch it directly from my cell phone, which I am willing to hand over because Luis’s family has asked me to and because there must be justice“, reply.
Second witness wants to testify
But he is not the only witness who wants to testify before the Prosecutor’s Office. Anthony Vilcas, cultural manager, was also present when Luis Rodríguez received the impact of the blunt object. “At 8:30 at night, I arrived at Plaza San Martín and saw that a group of protesters could not continue along Nicolás de Piérola because there was a police cordon ahead. Then, the police began to advance and repress, throwing tear gas bombs until they reached the square, which was half empty. At around 9 at night, I was on the right side of the monument looking towards Nicolás de Piérola as they threw tear gas bombs when in one of those I see Luis Rodríguez, less than three or four meters away, lying on the ground with his legs extended and bloody,” he tells this newspaper.
Vilcas reiterates that the impact to the head occurred during the police repression. “In Plaza San Martín there were no problems, but the Police kept throwing tear gas bombs towards where we were,” he responds after pointing out that he knew the young musician by sight, through the artistic milieu.
“I hope there is justice and reparation for the colleague because he was not doing anything. For fun, actually, they shot him. We don’t know what will happen to him and that could have happened to any of us who just went out to exercise our right to protest. I hope that the authorities call me to testify because we are willing to do so,” he says.
In love asks for investigation
Luis Reyes’ lover, audiovisual communicator Ysamar Espino, hopes that the truth will be told and those responsible will be found so that this case does not go unpunished. “We hope that the Prosecutor’s Office can collect the testimony of the two witnesses who are willing to testify. There is a video that shows that what hit Luis’s skull was a tear gas bomb, as a doctor presumes,” he points out to The Republic.
Espino commented that, at no time, has the PNP contacted them, only the Prosecutor’s Office. “We want justice because everyone tells us that, indeed, the impact was caused by a police officer. But They don’t want to give us the images from the cameras of the Municipality of Lima, who, supposedly, has recorded everything. We have obtained all the evidence,” he claims.
So far, Luis Reyes’ condition remains critical. Although his vital signs are stable, the process is still delicate. “He will remain in a coma for a couple more days.”. His brain still hasn’t gone down. “It is not yet known what the next procedure will be, if it will have to be operated on again.”
The young woman also reports that Luis Reyes’ cell phone has disappeared and no one gives information about its location. “This, despite the fact that when I called on Wednesday night, a doctor from Loayza answered telling me that Luis had suffered a serious trauma. We want help to get his cell phone,” she requests frustrated.
