Geovanni Miguel Reyes Mena 

“He was a hero, a man with his whole life ahead of him, and the father of my children”

Murdered in Tipitapa on June 2, 2018

Geovanni Miguel Reyes Mena was 28-years-old and he worked as a textile operator in the free-trade zone close to the city of Tipitapa, where he lived with his family. Jennifer de los Ángeles Reyes Castrillo, his wife, describes him as a responsible man who took care of all of the expenses of their home.  He was always concerned about the needs of his children and he helped with domestic chores at home.  They had been married for 12 years, and during that time they’d had three children, two girls and a boy. “We are like any other couple. His children were everything to him. He always protected them. We always focused on our family and the children. We had problems but we always resolved them, separate from the children.”

On Sundays, Geovanni helped to get the children ready for Sunday school and they divided the chores. He had been unemployed for a year but he did all of the domestic work and took care of the children while Jennifer was at work. In his free time he liked to watch cock fights and play soccer. He was a fan of the Real Madrid soccer team.

Geovanni helped his daughters with their homework, teaching them multiplication tables and how to read. “He would study with them and he dreamed of his eldest daughter’s quinciañera and he wanted to celebrate with a big party. They both would practice the dance and everything they were going to do at the party including having her dad walk her in, arm in arm,” recalls his wife with nostalgia.

June 2nd was their eldest daughter’s birthday. Jennifer came home at around 6:00pm and prepared dinner. After taking care of the children all day, Geovanni went out with some friends. Jennifer was having dinner with her children when they heard shots. Shortly afterwards, someone knocked on the door and told her that Geovanni had been killed. He was shot in the forehead.

Jennifer does not understand why he was killed. They had collaborated with Sandinistas at the voting tables and he recently had begun going to the pro-government CPC meetings. They never shared their opinions and followed the lead of other members of their family who were Sandinistas. “My dad was a staunch Sandinista. On July 19th he took all of his children to the plaza,” recalls Jennifer.

“He was a hero and he died for the cause because if the government had not passed the reforms to the Social Security law, nothing would have happened. When they wanted to retract what they had done there were already people that had been killed. I hope there will be justice and that his death will not be ignored. He was a hero, a man with his whole life ahead of him, and the father of my children. I want to know who killed him. Nicaragua was fighting for something that was just, so that the elderly would not have anything taken away from them. When the elderly protested, they beat them and the people rose up,” she states.