Dany Stanley Rivas
“Life should be lived with health, love and education”
Wounded in Managua on April 21, 2018; died on April 22
Dany Rivas was a simple and humble 25-year-old who was very caring and committed to his family. He was especially close to his grandfather, whom he called papa. His mother, Darling Rivas, says he was a religious young man who believed in justice. He participated in neighborhood activities and liked to play basketball. He always said that life had to be lived with health, love and education.
He had moved to León when he was 16, where he worked as a sub-contractor for Casa McGregor and was studying to learn more about painting techniques. When the protests began against the reforms to the social security law, Dany said it wasn’t fair for them to reduce his retired grandfather’s pension and that the other changes to the law would also affect him as a worker. That’s why he decided to go to Managua to support his cousin, who was studying at the UPOLI [the Polytechnic University].
He joined the protests in the capital on April 19, the very day after the first demonstration against the reforms. On Saturday, April 21, he participated in a demonstration near the UPOLI, which the police repressed by shooting at the demonstrators. Dany was near the monument honoring Rafaela Herrera when he was shot in the abdomen. His companions carried him to the medical post set up by students inside the UPOLI, but the gravity of his wound required transfer to the nearest hospital.
The intense resistance of the students inside the UPOLI against the police offensive and the number of barricades erected around the university campus slowed efforts to get Dany to the Alemán Hospital. They finally got there and he was admitted between 10 and 11 pm, but he died the following day. His mother describes the difficulties she had getting to the hospital and the scant information provided to her by the medical staff on duty. She says she finally saw her son in the Intensive Care Unit, where he had been operated on and intubated, and was still alive. The doctor who had performed the surgery explained the seriousness of the wound and said she had little hope he would survive. Dany died hours later.
Facts
On April 21, 2018, at around 5 pm, police agents and anti-riot forces, together with paramilitaries, attacked the students concentrated in the area near the UPOLI. Dany Stanley Rivas, one of the demonstrators supporting the university protests, was wounded in the abdomen by a shotgun when he was one block from the monument to Rafaela Herrera, and barely 20 meters from a barricade. The bullet perforated his femoral artery. First provided immediate aid at the site, he was taken to the medical post set up by student demonstrators inside the university, and was later transferred to the Alemán Hospital, where he died on April 22.
Memory
Managua
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