Jeisson Antonio Chavarría Urbina

“His legacy is overcoming fear and fighting for justice”

Murdered in Ticuantepe on April 21, 2018

Cela Nereyda Urbina Membreño remembers that her son Jeisson Antonio Chavarría Urbina had plans for the future: he wanted to study English, to continue his education and to start a family. He had turned 24 and worked hard as a driver of a motorcycle taxi. He had a cheerful, friendly personality and enjoyed the company of his friends with whom he played pool on his days off. They affectionately called him “Calulo.”

Jeisson got along well with his sister, Yerling Ninoska Chavarría Urbina, and with his brother-in-law, the owner of the “moto-taxi” that Jason drove. Yerling reports that her brother had a phrase that he repeated frequently: “You have to enjoy life, because it’s short.” In his spare time, he liked to play pool and PlayStation and to watch Real Madrid soccer games. “He was an excellent brother and a good person. He was helpful and attentive. He didn’t like people to hurt animals; he cared for strays from the streets,” recalls Yerling.

Jeisson was well informed of the situation in the country. He kept up with the news on Facebook and was very upset when the first kids were killed. He also wanted to support the protests of older adults for their rights, because he was specially attuned towards them. “When he drove the moto-taxi and encountered an old man or woman, he would give them a ride, even if they couldn’t pay,” recalls his sister.

She reports that on April 20, Jeisson joined the demonstrators who were protesting with their flags at Km. 14 on the Masaya Highway. He returned home in high spirits at 3:00 a.m. and told the family that they had pulled down a Chayopalo “metal tree” and that a truck had even helped them in the task. The following day, he and two friends joined the “blue and white” march in Ticuantepe. “When they reached the Town Hall, they saw that there were Sandinista Youth mobs and police. Jeisson and his friends turned back, but they were chased and fired upon. Jeisson was shot in the head and fell to the ground in front of the Union Fenosa offices,” says his sister.

Many people attended the funeral, including his fellow moto-taxi drivers. People that the family did not know approached Jeisson’s mother to tell anecdotes about the boy, about his generosity and solidarity. A lady told her about the day she did not have money to pay for the trip, and he gave her a ride at no charge. A girl expressed her gratitude because Jeisson had given her a ride home after she had been mugged.

Cela Nereyda Urbina hopes that there will be justice for her son and for each of the persons murdered. “Their killers should pay, but so should those who sent them to kill,” she states.

For Yerling, “Jeisson is present in my mind every second of my life. Everything in the house reminds me of him – his room, his clothing, the moto-taxi. All of this reminds me of him every day. I want him to be remembered as a great hero, as a kid who joined others to defend the cause of the elderly. They murdered him for simply exercising his right to protest,” says his sister.

Facts

Around 6:00 p.m. on April 21, 2018, Jeisson Chavarría Urbina joined a group of demonstrators in the Juan Ramón Padilla neighborhood of Ticuantepe and together they marched toward the Municipal Government building. The police forced them back to the area around the traffic lights, where paramilitaries, police, members of the Sandinista Youth and other pro-government groups attacked them with firearms. The demonstrators responded with rocks and homemade mortar shooters. Between 8:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., Jeisson was captured by the paramilitaries and murdered by one of them, who shot him in the head as Jeisson pleaded for his life. A friend who attempted to lift him from the ground was also shot. Jeisson’s companions took him to the Amistad México-Nicaragua primary care hospital on a motorcycle, but he died en route.