Kevin Roberto Dávila López

“We want true justice, justice with liberty”

Wounded on April 21st, died on May 6th, 2018

Kevin Roberto Dávila López was 23 years old. He was a simple person with a good heart. He was part of a tight-knit family with strong values. He loved animals and he was enrolled at the veterinary school at the Central University of Nicaragua (UCN). After three years he had to discontinue his studies due to economic limitations. “He took a pause in his university education to take up technical studies in refrigeration.” He looked for work in order to return to the university and finance his studies,” says his godmother, Martha Lorena Blandon.

In his free time Kevin played on a weekend soccer team. He played the guitar and he would get together with friends to watch TV and talk. His dream was to finish his veterinary studies, become a professional vet and help his family.

On April 20th, while participating in a protest against the government in the area near the UPOLI, Kevin was shot in the head while documenting the police attack at the university. He was filming the bullet casings from the attack when shot. He was taken by ambulance to the Lenin Fonseca Hospital. After a harrowing search in several city hospitals, his father found him. Kevin was in a coma and died on May 6th.

“It has been a year and Kevin has had no justice. All of his neighbors and friends want justice for Kevin and for all the young people who have been murdered. To this day, no one has been accused for the deaths of so many young people. We want true justice, justice with liberty. We want justice to be done and we want to remember what we have experienced in this struggle with our children, with our dead,” says his godmother.

Facts

On Saturday April 21st, 2018 Kevin Roberto Dávila López went to the area near the UPOLI with his cousin and two friends. On the road to the Rafaela Herrera neighborhood, towards the traffic light of the Miguel Gutierrez neighborhood, anti-riot forces and police attacked independent protesters who responded with homemade mortars, rocks and sticks. Kevin gave an interview to journalists covering the situation showing them the bullet casings he’d found as proof of the armed police attack.

Kevin’s friends retreated but Kevin kept filming in the same area. Between 5:30pm and 6:00pm, Kevin’s uncle received a message sent from Kevin’s cell phone saying that he had been shot in the head. Wounded, they took him to the UPOLI and subsequently an ambulance took him to the Lenin Fonseca Hospital where he underwent two surgeries. He died in the hospital on May 6th. One day before he was wounded he was beaten while participating in a protest in the same location and was also attacked by members of the National Police.

El sábado 21de abril de 2018, Kevin Roberto Dávila López se trasladó al sector de la UPOLI en compañía de un primo y dos amigos. Sobre la pista de la colonia Rafaela Herrera hasta los semáforos de la Miguel Gutiérrez, fuerzas antimotines y efectivos de la Policía atacaron a manifestantes auto-convocados que respondieron con morteros, piedras y palos. Kevin brindó una entrevista a los periodistas que daban cobertura a la situación, mostrando algunos casquillos de bala como pruebas contundentes del ataque armado. Los amigos de Kevin lo invitaron a retirarse con ellos, pero él continuó grabando en el mismo sector.