The injured in the protests in Peru who will never be the same again

In the last two months, Peru has become a battlefield.

Since the marches began on December 7, with the failed self-coup by Pedro Castillo and the succession of Dina Boluarte, according to the Ombudsman's Office, 1,229 civilians and 580 law enforcement officers have been injured.

Road blockades, attacks on public institutions, unattended emergencies and a disproportionate use of weapons have left a death toll of 47 demonstrators dead and one police officer, in addition to 11 civilians who lost their lives in traffic accidents due to the national strike.

The thermometer on the street indicates that the protests will not subside for now and although the focus is always on the dead, there are wounded who will never be the same again.

The wounded man who fell before the cameras

On the last Saturday of January, in the center of Lima, a body collapsed after receiving a projectile to the head and a television channel broadcast it live, although the image changed quickly.

What was known since then was thanks to some videos of some protesters who were near the body.

At first it was thought that it was Víctor Santisteban Yacsavilca, who died that night from a severe head injury.

His death caught the attention, but shortly after it was confirmed that Santisteban was not the one who had fallen in front of the television cameras.

So who was that man?

From the images it was distinguished that he was wearing jeans, a cherry polo shirt and the Peruvian flag tied around his neck, as if it were a cape.

While on Sunday, some Executive authorities, various media outlets and not a few congressmen maintained that the death of Santisteban had been caused by a stone, for which reason the forces of order were not to blame, Jhon Santos Lapa Laime, 32, He was fighting for his life at the Loayza Hospital.

Lapa - Huancavelicano, merchant and father of a two-month-old child - was the protester whose attack was televised.

His family recognized him by his clothes.

Lapa Laime wrapped in the Peruvian flag the day he was wounded. SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA (REUTERS)

“I shared the video without knowing that it was about him, because I was outraged.

Then, when his partner confirmed that it was him, I was shocked, ”says his cousin Rodi Laime.

At 10 in the morning on Sunday, Jhon Santos Lapa Laime entered the operating room.

The operation lasted until seven.

The diagnosis of his injury was head trauma and epidural hematoma.

Since that day, he has been in the Intensive Care Unit of the Loayza Hospital and his prognosis is reserved.

He hasn't been able to regain consciousness in a week.

Jhon Lapa is the fifth of 10 siblings.

Rocío is the one who closely follows his evolution.

“They told us that he was going to get up soon, but we are still waiting.

A few days ago they did a CT scan and he developed a fever.

We just have to have a lot of faith.

But it is very sad to think that he will need treatment for life.

Rocío denounces that the brother, with whom he used to play in carnivals in Huancavelica, would not have received the most appropriate attention either.

“I arrived at Loayza at one in the morning and my brother was still on a stretcher, thrown away, in a room with other people.

More than five hours had passed since rescuers had left him there.

A nurse told me that they were giving preference to the wounded who were not from the march.

I told them: what are you waiting for, for him to die?

And there they just took it into account ”.

The cameras of Canal N captured the precise moment in which a protester is injured in the head by a pellet and falls to the ground as a result of the impact #CrisisEnPeru pic.twitter.com/bxDzMFHinf

– Third Eye Media (@TercerOjo_Media) January 29, 2023

Asked about it, the Communications area of ​​Hospital Loayza responded: “All patients are duly cared for, and family members receive a report.

What injured him?

Determining it is not our function.

That's up to the Public Ministry.

We will not enter that terrain."

“If it had been a stone, it would not have gone at that speed.

There is also a video where it is seen that the shot comes from the side of the Police.

The sparkles are seen.

Possibly it must have been a pellet.

We are advising ourselves to be able to access the documents, ”says his cousin.

Those most affected by the news have been Jhon's parents: Teodor and Julia.

Both are dedicated to the farm in Huancavelica and have not been able to accompany him in Lima.

Julia fainted upon hearing the news.

A bullet lodged in the back

Belardino clutches his face, cries and does not want to continue the story.

Memories of when he was injured are mixed with hopelessness and anguish over the uncertain future of his family: a nine-year-old girl, a seven-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy.

This man, hardened and tough, collapses in the small bareque house that he shares with his three children and his partner, in front of a neglected farm where quinoa has not been able to grow well.

On January 9 in Juliaca, Belardino Quispe, 29, was shot in the back.

That day, the protesters tried to take over the airport.

The police tried to disperse them with shots.

The first injuries occurred at noon and the first deaths were recorded in the afternoon.

18 people died.

According to data from the Puno Ombudsman's Office, there are close to 100 people injured, the majority by firearm projectiles.

The bullet entered the left side of Belardino's back and lodged in the pelvis. Mauricio Morales

Yadida is Belardino Quispe's niece, she is 11 years old, and she is in charge of taking care of him while Quispe's partner is in Juliaca looking for medicine for her partner. Mauricio Morales

Belarmino was wounded on January 9, 2023, the day about 18 people died, when police fired on protesters trying to take over the airport. Mauricio Morales

Some of the supplies used to clean Quispe's wound. Mauricio Morales

Belardino arrived in Juliaca that morning.

He does not remember much of the shock, only that he woke up in the Jorge Chávez health center.

The doctor told him that it was not a bullet but a shot from pellets and sent him to his house.

Valeria Cajia, 30, who works accompanying and supporting the victims and their families, explains that the health personnel told the injured that they could be arrested by the police, so many decided not to go to the hospital.

"They were moments of misinformation, chaos, to which was added the ignorance of the rights that each person has to life, to health, the right to social protest."

Belardino went to his sister's house in Juliaca, where he could not sleep from the pain.

The next morning he returned to the medical center and X-rays showed a bullet lodged in the pelvis.

He went to the hospital and, after several hours of waiting, a doctor explained to him that the situation was difficult, that he would probably need to be intervened because the bullet was very deep.

The operation, he told him, had to be done in Lima.

Again, he was dispatched to his house.

Belardino Quispe's house, on the banks of Titicaca, in the town of Capachica.

It is located about 60km from Puno. Mauricio Morales

Some people in Juliaca got together to contribute some money for all the tests and medicines he needed, but it is not enough to travel to the capital.

It is possible that he will have the bullet lodged in his back.

He worries that he will never walk again, how to support his family and when he will be able to return to work on the farm and with his animals.

He also still fears being arrested.

Yadida is only 11 years old and takes care of her uncle Belardino.

She cooks for him, gives him food, gives him medicine, takes care of her wounds and takes care of her animals.

Her partner is in Juliaca with her children looking for help for her husband.

“Everything makes me sad, money, the economy.

What I am going to do?

I am the breadwinner for my family, my children depend on me, I have to work, ”she says through tears in her bed on the shores of Titicaca.

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