Gerald Antonio Barrera Villavicencio
“They took away a piece of my heart.”
Murdered on July 8, 2018, in Jinotepe
Gerald Antonio Barrera Villavicencio was from Jinotepe, Carazo. His mother died when he was only three years old, and his father abandoned him. He and his brother were raised by his aunt Alisseth Barrera Reyes, who was like his real mother. He was very attached to her and loved her. He loved to celebrate her birthdays and see her happy. He worked as a bricklayer, but life brought him new opportunities and he discovered that he was talented as a salesman.
He sold eggs and plastic bags. In 2018, he worked as a sales executive for a Colombian company that distributed feed for animals. Because of his great commitment to his work, he was given a vehicle for getting around. He was married to Karen Mayela Martínez, and they had two children, a 3-year-old daughter and an 8-month-old baby boy, who were his life. “They took away a piece of my heart, but I am proud of him, because he struggled and gave his life for us. He was a great son, a great father, a hard-working man,” declared Alisseth during an event honoring him.
Facts
On July 8, at 5:30 in the morning, police forces and armed civilians violently stormed through all entrances to the Carazo department, to carry out the so-called “Operation Clean-Up.” During the attack against Jinotepe, Gerald Antonio Barrera Villavicencio was hit with bullets from firearms shot by paramilitaries, aimed at protesters at the barricades, who defended themselves with homemade mortars. He was just a few meters from his home when a bullet hit him in his ribs, with a clear entry and exit wound, perforating his lungs.
“At 11:00 in the morning, I went out in the middle of a firefight to find his body. The paramilitaries were there, but God protected me with the blood of Christ. At the Carazo Medical Center, I saw someone lying on a stretcher. I never thought it was my son there,” recalls Alisseth Barrera Reyes, Gerald’s aunt, who had raised him like her own son.
Memory
Carazo
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