This is the moment a mourning mother hugs the body of her son and begs for him to “wake up” after he was killed during the riots in Bolivia.
At least nine people died and 125 were injured during the riots which happened near the city of Cochabamba, central Bolivia, where violence broke out between protesters and members of the police and army.
The victims belonged to groups of “cocaleros” (coca leaf growers) wh were participating in a protest walking to the capital La Paz to join in the marches taking place in favour of former president Evo Morales.
Video Credit: CEN
Among the victims was a young producer called Cesar Sipe, whose mum is seen in the video shared on social networks.
In the video, the crying mother can be seen hugging her dead son and begging for him to “wake up”.
Sipe was killed on Thursday during a reportedly violent operation from police officers and army officers in the city of Sacaba, in the department of Cochabamba.
According to Nelson Cox, spokesman for the Ombudsman of the People of Bolivia, the action “was disproportionate”.
Cox also claimed that the security forces at checkpoints did not let the ambulance carrying the injured people cross.
Sipe and the other four people killed, identified by local newspaper El Deber as Omar Calle, Juan Lopez, Emilio Colque and Lucas Sanchez, were taken to the Mexico of Sacaba Hospital but they died before arriving due to the serious bullet injuries they had received.
Another four people reportedly died during the protest but they have not been identified.
An army officer claimed that protestors had used “dynamite and lethal weapons” during the incident, claiming that some of the injuries were caused by protestors shooting at each other.
Former Bolivian President Morales wrote on social media: “I condemn and report to the world that the participants in the coup d’etat that took the power of my beloved Bolivia through assault are using the bullets of the Armed Forces and the police against the people asking for peace and the repost of the rightful state. Now they are murdering our brothers in Sacaba, Cochabamba.”
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Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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