Brazilian student Raynéia Gabrielle Lima, 31, was shot and killed Monday night in an attack by armed civilians in the area of the American school in Managua. The aspiring medical student has become the latest casualty of the ongoing socio-political strife that has shaken Nicaragua for more than three months.
According to the news site in Brazil, Folha, the Brazilin embassy in Managua confirmed the death of Raynéia Gabrielle Lima, who in August was going to turn 32 and had lived in Nicaragua for six years.
She was finishing her medical degree,” the father of the victim, Ridevando Lima, told Folha. The woman had three months to finish her medical degree.
In social networks, the colleagues of Raynéia Gabrielle Lima, as well as her acquaintances and companions lamented her death, they remembered her as a “joven luchona” (young striver), strong and cheerful, and promised never to forget her.
In a statement, the National Police maintained that the Brazilian was alone in a vehicle and that a security guard shot her. The institution added that they are investigating the suspect.
For their part, residents who live near the area where Raynéia was killed, it was reported in the social networks that loud detonations were heard at around 11:00 p.m. on Monday.
“You came to this country in search of fulfilling your dream, you fell in love with the beauty of Nicaragua, you welcomed this country as your second home, you won the affection of many. You struggled enough to get ahead and continue in the race, you learned another language (Spanish), which was not easy for you. You were a great friend, a great companion, an excellent person, a great colleague. They took away your dreams when only months were needed to reach that goal that we all hope for. Now you are an angel that shines in the sky. A hug to the sky, Ray. We will always carry you in our hearts,” one of her colleagues wrote on her Facebook profile.
On her Facebook profile, the young woman, soon to be a doctor, presented herself as a grateful, free and full of love person, “nascida no Brasil, renascida na Nicaragua! (born in Brazil, born again in Nicaragua!), she wrote in Portuguese.
Rayneia was on her way home after completing her residency shift at a local hospital Monday night when the vehicle she was driving was sprayed with bullets, according to Ernesto Medina, rector of the American University of Managua.
In contrast to the version by the national police, Medina said the shots, which hit several vital organs, came from armed pro-government civilians who have taken over the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua since July 13. She was traveling near that campus. He added that Lima was a sixth-year student and practicing resident at the police-run Carlos Roberto Huembes Hospital in Managua.
Brazil recalls ambassador
The Brazilian government on Tuesday summoned its Nicaraguan ambassador in Brazil, Lorena Martinez, for an explanation on the death of Rayneia Gabrielle Lima.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes also recalled Brazil’s ambassador to Nicaragua, Luís Cláudio Villafañe, to explain the death of Rayneia Gabrielle Lima, sources from the Foreign Ministry told Efe.
Villafañen is expected to return to Managua to continue his work once he meets with Brazilian authorities.
‘The Brazilian government again condemns the deepening repression, the disproportionate and lethal use of force and the use of paramilitary groups in operations coordinated by security forces,’ the ministry said in a statement. “It is a demonstration of dissatisfaction with what happened”.
It urged Nicaragua to punish those responsible for the killing and also ‘to guarantee the free exercise of individual rights and public liberties.’
Brazil is one of the 13 Latin American countries last week calling for an immediate end to the “acts of violence, intimidation and the threats directed towards Nicaraguan society”. The other countries are Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
The death toll continues to rise
Rayneia’s comes in the midst of a sociopolitical crisis due to demonstrations against President Daniel Ortega, whose repression has left between 277 and 351 dead, according to local and international humanitarian organizations.
Nicaragua is submerged in the bloodiest crisis of its history in times of peace and the strongest since the 1980s, also with Daniel Ortega as leader of the country.
The demonstrations against Ortega began mid-April triggered by failed Social Security reforms to later derive a demand for the resignation of the president after eleven years in power.
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