Don Nico, as the man attacked by bullets was known while broadcasting live on social networks this Tuesday the state of the streets in his town, remains in serious condition at the General Hospital of Celaya due to the three shots he received in the pelvis, buttock and leg. The merchant, known for his community work and his citizen reports, in Salvatierra, Guanajuato, had confessed during the broadcast that he feared for his life due to the complaints he made online.
Don Nico was not a stranger in Urireo. On his Facebook account, in addition to promoting his ice cream business, he published neighborhood messages and complaints about local problems, such as the poor state of the streets. The inhabitants considered him a spokesperson for the community. “Hello Don Nico, can you do me the favor of publishing this message to see if it reaches the delegate,” wrote a neighbor, who reported having had an accident due to a pothole. Among their posts were alerts about scams, charity raffles, lost pets or accidents.
The man had focused his latest messages on social networks on the poor state of the streets and highways in the area. He published photographs and warnings of the holes and had even promoted a collection to take care of the pothole. “We know that making complaints or requests through networks is not formal, but it is a means where we can express ourselves and make our opinions known so that the leaders are also aware of all the events and our needs,” he wrote on Facebook.
At the beginning of the broadcast where his attack was captured, he said he was thinking about stopping sharing citizen reports because he feared for his life. The State Prosecutor’s Office is working on two lines of investigation, one of them related precisely to the activism that the man carried out in his community. Of the other theory, he did not disclose details. So far there are no arrests, according to what José Daniel Sámano, mayor of Salvatierra, stated this Wednesday in an interview with Formula.
On Tuesday afternoon, the merchant broadcast from his Helados Don Nico Facebook page to show the deterioration of a rural road leading to Morelia. In the video he pointed out the most damaged sections while calling the authorities to address the problem. “Look how ugly it is, here we need to dig (…) I ask the ejidatarios in the most kind way to hold a meeting to see if they can do something,” he said seconds before a motorcycle approaches him, from where the co-pilot shoots him directly at least five times, without the motorcycle stopping.
In the video you can hear cries for help and several neighbors approaching to help him. “They already killed me, sweetheart. My breath is running out, I’m dying, I’m lying in the field, I love you, tell my children that I love them,” the man said to his family, without the transmission being cut off after the attack. Don Nico, already wounded, pointed directly at the authorities. “Let it remain as a legacy for the people, that the fucking Government is garbage,” he said.
Mayor Sámano has recognized that Salvatierra faces a crisis of violence—it is the fourth most violent municipality in the state—and said he understands citizen frustration. “We would like to attend to all the needs, but I have only been in office for a year,” he said. He has also revealed that he himself has received death threats after the attack on Don Nico: “I had to leave the municipality because I started receiving cyber attacks and threats.” The state and federal governments identify Guanajuato as one of the most representative towns in the reduction of homicides in Mexico, which the Government boasts. 11.6% of the country’s homicides are concentrated there.
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