Agustín Ezequiel Mendoza Lira
“His dream was to have his own beauty salon one day and work for himself”
Murdered on June 14, 2018, in Managua
Agustín’s friends remember him as “a great person, friendly, happy, and very respectful.” He worked in the free-trade zone and studied hair styling on Saturdays.
Martha Lira says her son’s dream “was to have his own beauty salon at home, and work for himself.” At his funeral, relatives and friends painted his coffin blue and white, and the Tipitapa community put up new roadblocks to protest the repression.
Facts
The population ran out of their homes with pots and pans, shouting “Go away!” The police and paramilitaries opened fire, and one of the paramilitaries shot Agustín Ezequiel Mendoza Lira point blank, as he was trying to record the events on his cell phone. His neighbors tried to help him, but he died on his way to the hospital.
Following the initial protests, a group of young people and community members formed the April 19 Movement of Tipitapa, which put up two roadblocks beginning in early May. One was in Las Maderas, and the other in the Oronte Centeno barrio. On June 14, in response to the opposition movement’s call for a national strike, the government shifted its targets in Operation Clean-Up. One of the new targets was Tipitapa. The attack on the Oronte Centeno roadblock by police and anti-riot forces began at 4:30 in the morning.
Everyone in Tipitapa knew him and his talent as a hair stylist. On June 28, during the LGTBQ Day march, the community honored him, shouting “Agustín Ezequiel Mendoza: Present! Present! Present!”
Agustín joined the movement after his friend and fellow band member, Richard Pavón Bermúdez, was killed. He was the first person who died in the April protests.
Memory
Managua
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