“Come in fucking dogs!” : the order that stifled the lives and dreams of six young soldiers in the Ilave River

Their age did not exceed 25 years. Franz Canazas Cahuaya (20), Elvis Pari Quizo (20), Alex Quispe Serrano (24), Carlos Quispe Montalico (22 years old), Elías Lupaca Inquilla (19 years old) and Percy Castillo Pongo (19 years old) had two things in common: the vocation to serve their country and the pleasure of wearing the uniform of Peruvian Army. They dreamed of reaping military successes, but their life was extinguished last Sunday, March 5, in the river keyIn the region A lot of.

While the high command of the peruvian army blaming ‘violent protesters’ for the deaths of these youngsters, claiming they cornered them until they were thrown into the river, the parents of the victims are certain that the captain’s order Jose Frisancho Lazo was the one who ended up pushing them to certain death.

“Captain Frisancho took them across the river. because of that military now the soldiers they are dead. They couldn’t swim, that’s why they died. He shot in the air. “Come in, you fucking dogs!” he shouted, that’s why the little soldiers crossed. Now I demand justice,” Corporal Quispe Montalico’s heartbroken mother said.

Like her, the parents of others soldiers they also mourn the loss of their children. They know that they will never see them again and they just want to stop feeling that feeling of rage in their chests, seeing that the person or persons responsible for the act are criminally paying their guilt.

The pain of the bereaved is shared by the entire population of A lot ofregion where anti-government mobilizations have been felt the most, to the point that in January of this year nearly twenty deaths were recorded in a single day due to the repression of the police.

Preliminary information suggests that the Armed forces They sent troops by helicopter and on foot from the district of Additional (El Collao) to the town of Julyin the province of Chucuito, Puno, where the burning of a police station and a judicial headquarters was reported and nearly thirty injured, including civilians and soldiers.

Part of the reinforcements arrived, but the troops who were on foot had serious complications on their way, as they ran into great difficulty due to the geography of the area. At first it turned out that the soldiers would have been persecuted protestersbut videos shared on social networks and a La República correspondent would deny it.

We learned that upon reaching the area of ​​the Ilave International Bridgethe troop could not continue forward, as they found the structure blocked by the protestant population. Then, the captain in charge would have ordered the soldiers to form a human chain to cross the river. Tragedy loomed when their hands were let go by the pressure of the current and they drowned.

According to local media, superiors gave the order to enter the river, which is of considerable depth, despite the fact that “some soldiers They couldn’t swim.”

Witnesses revealed that the same key communities they tried to rescue the soldiers and managed to get some of them out. But, according to senior military commanders, it would be true, but it happened after they “attacked them with sticks and stones”.

The head of the southern military region, Jhony León Rabanal, reported that protesters attacked a patrol as they crossed the Ilave River. He categorically rejected that a captain gave the order to which the parents refer.

“We have transferred 500 men and specialized personnel will be transferred. The army deeply regrets the death of our brother soldiers. The flag is at half mast. We call on the people of Puno to be aware, because this is murder,” he told channel N.