Bolivia: El Alto mourns its dead students after falling from a fourth floor at the Public University of El Alto

The pain for the death of seven students of the state Public University of El Alto (UPEA) is still breathed in that city bolivian, where this Thursday the relatives and friends of the youngest deceased gave him the last goodbye.

Limber Lucana He was 19 years old, he was the penultimate of nine children, he was beginning to study economics at the UPEA and “had many dreams” to fulfill, his father, Alberto Lucana, told EFE.

“Today I am totally devastated, my home, my family, we all are. Losing a child has been very unfortunate “, said Alberto, who also assured that Limber “was very prominent.”

The young man was the last victim to die 24 hours after the accident. He had fractures to the skull and several blows to the body from the fall of almost 17 meters suffered along with ten other university students on Tuesday, after breaking a railing in a hall of the university.

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GOODBYE TO LIMBER

The modest house of the Lucana in the Tahuantinsuyo neighborhood of El Alto was set up for the boy’s wake, with a black bow on the front door, a speaker through which the funeral music sounded to communicate the mourning and several chairs in the patio, in addition of an awning to protect visitors from the sun.

The white coffin was accommodated in a room filled with wreaths, with chairs set aside for the parents and siblings of Limber.

Limber’s family, former schoolmates, teachers and friends came to his home to pay their respects, but they did not do so empty-handed.

In addition to flowers, the mourners carried boxes of soft drinks and bags with coca leaves and “pasak’allas”, a kind of puffed corn covered in sugar very popular in the Bolivian Andean area, to share with the family and the rest of those attending the wake. .

Born in El Alto to rural migrant parents, Limber wanted to be in the military, but was not accepted because of his height, so he applied to college, his father explained.

The tragic day “he was doing the paperwork to pass classes and check their schedules, that’s why he was going to that meeting and there this fatal accident happened,” he lamented.

Alberto demanded that the authorities that have made commitments with the families of the victims comply with them to find those responsible for this event and also asked that the case not be politicized.

Image of a poster where the photograph of Limber Lucana, one of the victims of the fatal accident, appears. (EFE / Martin Alipaz).

INDIGNATION AND PAIN

For now, the family will dedicate themselves to mourning the loss of the young man, who will be buried this Thursday in the land of his father, the town of Pucarani, in the Altiplano of La Paz.

And once the duel is over, Alberto assured that he will file a criminal complaint for the death of his son, who has him “outraged.”

In the Los Andes area, adjacent to the Limber neighborhood, are the UPEA facilities, which will remain closed from Thursday until tomorrow due to a “duel” decreed by its authorities.

The entrance doors to the different university blocks wear black ribbons and the one for the Economics career, where the accident occurred, also has flowers, candles, banners with messages that demand justice and from this day on others with messages left by friends of Limber.

People pass by the curious place, trying to see the interior of the university through the bars, while others come to read the messages and some stay to pray for the deceased. Everyone regrets what happened.

The day before, three other young people who died instantly, Gemio Mamani, Raúl Cadena and Anahí Chipana, were buried amid the pain of their families and the cry for justice.

Another of the victims, Saúl Mamani, was to be buried on this day in El Alto.

The Bolivian Police apprehended in the last hours seven people who are allegedly involved in calling the meeting that led to the brawl prior to the accident.

Other students and their parents have denounced that the student center lobbied for university students to attend that congress through calls and threats of fines that amounted to about $ 8 if they did not participate.