(Trends Wide Spanish) –– “Everything that has happened is incredible, how they killed Manuel with 13 bullets. He doesn’t enter my head. I am putting a name to each bullet, it occurred to me last night… ‘Greed’, ‘Cowardice’, ‘Corruption’, each bullet is going to have a name”.

Belkis Terán, a retired teacher from Maracaibo, mother of Manuel Esteban Páez Terán ––who died at the hands of the Georgia State Police during the eviction of a camp where he was protesting the creation of a police training center on a large piece of land in the southeast of Atlanta––, does not want the case to be forgotten. And she believes that justice will come sooner or later.

What happened to Manuel “Tortuguita” Páez Terán?

Belkis is not the same since she found out what happened to Manuel.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation claimed that on January 18 police shot Páez Terán, who they called “Tortuguita,” after he seriously wounded an officer with a gun he had allegedly purchased in September 2020.

The first autopsy revealed that Páez Terán received 13 bullet wounds from different firearms.

A second autopsy, commissioned by his family and anticipated by his lawyers on Friday, maintains that the protesters had their arms raised when police officers trying to clear the area opened fire. In a statement, the lawyers say that autopsy reveals that Páez Terán most likely had been sitting cross-legged when he was shot.

That incident occurred in one of the twenty camps that environmentalists had set up in the woods surrounding the site where the police installation will be, which those who oppose the project informally baptized as “Cop City.”

The death of “Tortuguita” at the hands of the Police provoked violent riots in downtown Atlanta and led to the arrest of some 30 people, who were later accused of internal terrorism.

Police say there were violent agitators among the peaceful demonstration.

On March 5, some people who reject the construction of “Cop City” attacked the Police with fireworks and destroyed a backhoe. After these events, there were 23 detainees who were also accused of internal terrorism, which can mean up to 35 years in prison if they are found guilty, according to experts consulted by Trends Wide.

Activists dispute the authorities’ account, saying police instead targeted people at a music festival in a different park from the construction site and began arresting people indiscriminately. Atlanta police deny that claim.

The accusations of internal terrorism have been criticized by organizations such as Human Rights Watch, who believe them to be exaggerated because their slogan is “to silence dissent.”

The Police have indicated that part of the protesters do not reside in the state of Georgia, but critics say that this argument is part of the police narrative that seeks to criminalize both national and international solidarity with the cause of the defense of the environment.

The family returns to the forest

On Sunday March 12, the family returned to this same forest to spread the ashes of “Tortuguita”.

Environmental activist groups believe that construction of the $90 million police megacity will destroy parts of the forest southeast of Atlanta.

A forest that “Tortuguita” wanted to defend because it houses terraces that filter rainwater and prevent flooding, according to the Defend the Atlanta Forest group website.

The organization added that it is the breeding ground for various amphibians in the region and a migration site for wading birds.

Who was “Turtle”?

“He was a jovial person, who made jokes, he liked to make art, he painted for that. For Manuel, painting was a way of expressing himself. Because of that, he would never use a gun,” Belkis states.

Manuel Esteban Páez Terán was born on April 23, 1996 in Maracaibo, Venezuela, into an evangelical family. His grandfather was a pastor.

“Manuel left Venezuela at the age of 7 or 8. We live in Aruba, in London, in Egypt, in Russia. He was very intelligent, he learned to speak Arabic, ”says his mother.

In Aruba, Manuel studied medicine for a year and a half, but later he would admit that, as a professional, he could not bear to lose human lives, says Belkis.

From there the family moved to Panama, where Páez Terán studied psychology and sociology.

She later graduated with a BA in Psychology Magna Cum Laude from Florida State University in 2021.

According to his mother, Manuel read a lot and got involved in a multitude of social and environmental causes, such as cleaning beaches or parks in Panama. In that country, Manuel founded and led an environmental club and also assisted a biology teacher.

“He respected and cared for people, which is why everyone mourns his absence terribly. Manuel stood out a lot in the community of the forest because he served, cooked, washed the dishes and picked up the garbage, the jobs that nobody likes to do, ”says Belkis.

He also helped the homeless, as his brother Pedro recalls. For this reason, along with other activists, Manuel created The Plant, a group described by the Terán family as a creative place where freedom of expression was promoted.

When he began to visit the city of Atlanta, according to his colleagues, Manuel enthusiastically joined the cause of the defense of the forest that they now believe is in danger due to the construction of “Cop City”.

There environmental activists have been camping for the past six months in protest.

“Something doesn’t fit”

Belkis Terán says that her family is multicultural. The eldest son, Daniel, was born in Chicago and served in the US Navy for 10 years.

“As a veteran, he is very angry that these things happen in his own country. We are people of faith, we believe in divine justice, and I do believe that there will be justice. I can’t tell you exactly how, but I do believe that there will be justice,” he says.

The younger brother, Pedro, remembers Manuel as someone very intelligent and well prepared. “It saddens me that he died like that,” he says.

Belkis is a petite woman, but with clear determination. She says that faith keeps her going. She currently resides in Panama along with Pedro due to the situation in Venezuela.

After the tragedy, Belkis wants you to know that Manuel was a cheerful person, an athlete, who loved skateboarding, skiing, diving, who drove boats and who also had unlimited generosity.

Belkis says that when Manuel received his Christmas presents, he would sometimes give them to other children. “And I told him ‘they are for you, my love’, but he didn’t pay attention.”

On Thursday, March 9, at a demonstration held at the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta, Belkis recounted that Manuel had a very intense and joyful life. He said it behind a pair of glasses clouded by the rain that fell in the place.

In her speech in English before some 200 people, she spoke about defending the Earth, about the need to protect the environment, as Manuel did. And she stated that the authorities’ report does not fit with Manuel’s supposed reaction to the police.

On Sunday, March 12, Belkis, in the company of activists, scattered the ashes in the same forest where Manuel Esteban died at the hands of the police. His mother said that Manuel felt the presence of God there, and that in that place he had received the message that those trees should be protected.

Belkis, a retired teacher, believes that justice will prevail in this case.

“I think so, because I believe in God. I don’t believe in man. I have no hate or grudge against anyone. But for me, justice is a matter of the fact that this world is going to get better and better.”

For her, Manuel was like an older person and she told him so while she was growing up. “I was aware of things, and details,” adds Belkis. Things and details that 13 bullets settled forever on January 18. Thirteen bullets that Belkis baptized with various names: greed, corruption, selfishness… and that he intends to claim from his owners.