“They’re Not Going to Shut Me Up,” says Yubrank Suazo
They set fire to his parents’ house early Wednesday in Masaya, Nicaragua, site of the “Ramiro Suazo and Son” hammock factory.
By Maynor Salazar (Confidencial)
HAVANA TIMES – In the early hours of Wednesday, July 4th, a group of hooded men set fire to the house of Yubrank Suazo’s parents in Masaya.
Yubrank is a leader of the 19th of April Movement in Masaya, and one of the most visible faces of the resistance in that city where despite being under siege by the paramilitaries, the population – principally those from the indigenous neighborhood of Monimbo – continues their resistance behind barricades.
According to Suazo, some twelve people approached the house around 2 am, shooting at it with firearms and later spreading gasoline around it.
Supposedly, the hooded men came to Suazo’s parents’ house to look for him, but since he wasn’t home, the men set fire to the building. The flames affected two nearby houses as well, one of them belonging to Elmer Suazo, a cousin of the 19th of April Movement’s leader.
Suazo had already opted to leave the house of his parents, Wilfredo Suazo and Ana Julia Urbina, due to the constant threats he’d received from Sandinista sympathizers. His parents had also decided to sleep elsewhere, due to the death threats. The hammock factory “Ramiro Suazo and Son” had continued to operate in the house. The dwelling was almost completely destroyed, and they’ve not yet been able to calculate with precision the economic losses.
“Ramiro Suazo and Son” was a cottage industry that had begun as a small family business in 1952 and had been maintained and consolidated over a 66 year period.
Ramon Suazo inherited this tradition and took on the job of carefully making each hammock. The hammocks were then sold in the Masaya barrio of Monimbo, in the market known as La Placita.
Yubrank Suazo accused Masaya mayor Orlando Noguera of being responsible for this attack. “As a family, we were victims of persecution by the Ortega people, due to my work, my support for the cause of the people who are demanding freedom and peace for Nicaraguan families,” the victim stated in a video posted on his Facebook page.
Suazo underlined that it was a sad and painful day. Nevertheless, he posted a message to the “figures from the Ortega camp” saying: “if you thought or planned to shut me up, you’re not going to succeed, you haven’t succeeded, because this commits me to remaining beside my people, on the side of the victims who are crying out for justice.”
This is one more test, and we’re going to keep going forward and emerge victorious. This doesn’t block our road, it doesn’t trip us up, we’re going to get up, we’re going to get ahead, with all of the Nicaraguan people. Long live Free Nicaragua,” Suazo concluded.
On June 19th, a group of hooded figures also went to the small Masaya Hotel, property of Cristhian Fajardo, also a member of the 19th of April Movement in Masaya. Fajardo had been the one to deliver the pronouncement establishing a provisional government junta that the citizens of this city were trying to set up.
The fire in the hotel was ignited by paramilitaries. Fajardo’s grandfather, who was in the establishment at the time, suffered head wounds as a result of the violence with which the men broke in. “They’re not going to intimidate either me or my family,” declared the victim later.
Fajardo, like Suazo, has been the face of the 19th of April Movement in Masaya. They’re both active among the population, who have denounced the repression exercised against the citizens of this city.