In the valley of Ixquisis, the rupture is consumed with the local police. “Please let the PNC [police nationale civile] retire », can we read on signs planted along the path that leads to the police barracks. The police were less than a kilometer from the site of the demonstration during which the environmental activist Sebastian Alonzo died in January 2017. The demonstrators accuse this one, in particular, of not having helped him.
“I saw police cars less than 200 meters from the demonstration which did not intervene, the shots seem to have been fired with the complicity of the police”relates Francisco Simon, a journalist from the region, affiliated with the newspaper Community Press. According official reports, the police only intervened to make the necessary observations on the corpse: “Single, uneducated, dark complexion, brown eyes, low bushy eyebrows, aquiline nose, thin lips, salt and pepper hair, shaved mustache, height about 1.65 meters. »
The barracks on the company premises
Installed within Energia y Renovacion, the company which plans to install two hydroelectric power stations in the valley, the police station is perceived by the local population as an extension of this company. At the time of the events, the operator was relying on twelve security agents made available by the company Asteriscos Inversiones and eight agents from G4S Secure Solutions, all of whom had a license to carry weapons. However, according to the management of these two security agencies, no personnel were on site when the shots were fired on January 17, 2017.
Juan Alfonso de Leon, director of works for the Energia y Renovacion electrical project, was present on the day of the incident. “An opposition group supported by people outside the community carried out an action that was far from peacefulhe assures. They went to where the machines are and started burning them and then attacking the police. Their goal was for us to leave. » Even today, over a kilometer, charred tractors, metal materials and unusable pipes litter the sides of the road, testifying to the violence of the clashes.
According to Mr. Alfonso de Leon, the security guards were not behind the shots that fatally hit Sebastian Alonzo. “Anyway for them [les manifestants], everything is the responsibility of the company. If it rains or doesn’t rain, it’s the company’s fault. it is up to the authorities to determine what happened that day. » At present, apart from some witness hearings, the police have not carried out any detailed investigation into these facts.