Relatives of the Colombian citizen Luis Cossio Cardona (23), a fervent fan of the Millonarios club in that country, described the fateful episode that cut short his life as a moment of deep pain and uncertainty.
The young man, who had been residing in Iquique for two months, had traveled, on April 25, to witness the confrontation between his team and Palestino in Coquimbo, for the Copa Libertadores.
After learning of his tragic death, his loved ones were plunged into deep consternation, aggravated even more by the thousands of kilometers away, leaving them helpless in the absence of precise information about what happened and then, in the face of the urgent need to be able to repatriate his remains to his native country.
It should be remembered that initially it was thought that the crime occurred as a result of a confrontation between fans before the game. However, this theory was quickly discarded, when it was learned that the homicide had occurred in the context of a fight between two groups of Colombian citizens.
From the Prosecutor’s Office, meanwhile, they state that the murder remains under investigation by the ECOH team together with the police.
In this regard, prosecutor Andrés Gálvez and PDI personnel from the Homicide Brigade, at the time, gathered at the La Serena hospital and in the parking lots on Alberto Solari Street in La Serena, where the group of individuals would have attacked the victim with a sharp weapon.
“We have recovered from the commercial sector of the La Serena mall, information that indicates that 4 to 5 people would have approached two who came from the commune of Iquique to watch a soccer match that was taking place here in Coquimbo. The person would have suffered a fatal transfixing wound at the level of the sternum that caused his death, despite the efforts of health personnel to resuscitate him,” the prosecutor said at the time.
REPATRIATE REMAINS
It should be noted that, until yesterday, the remains of Luis Cossio still remained in the Legal Medical Service waiting for them to be repatriated as soon as possible by his family, a situation that, by the way, keeps those close to him distressed because he cannot They would have enough money to do it, since the amount they would have requested would be 13 million Colombian pesos, equivalent to $3 million in national currency.
In this regard, the victim’s sister, Mónica Narváez, indicated, in contact with El Día, that they as a family are originally from a small town in the south of Colombia, called Puerto Rico, and are also people of limited resources, so the The amount they need to bring Luis back to their homeland is unattainable.
Faced with this scenario, the family started a collection to raise the money to allow the repatriation of the remains by going to friends of the young man and supporters of the Millonarios club.
Furthermore, according to Mónica, the authorities in her country have not provided her with greater support for repatriation, so they are alone in this crusade.
“His remains are still in La Serena. From the Foreign Ministry they called me and said that they do not have funds for these repatriation cases, and that we must raise the money,” said the victim’s relative.
SELFLESS SUPPORT
Regarding her brother’s presence in the country, Mónica maintains that Luis had been in Iquique since February and had been selling some things as a street vendor.
“He had no children and his passion was to follow Millonarios. That’s why he was happy following the team in La Paz (Bolivia) and then in Coquimbo. A friend named Eduardo invited him with all travel and entry costs to watch the game against Palestino. He was happy. When they arrived they met these compatriots who did not know they were from Santa Fe and they then started a fight. For defending his friend, they stabbed him, and he was seriously injured, dying in the hospital,” the young woman stated.
However, the woman maintains that the person who was initially viewing the papers was Luis’s ex-partner, who is also in Chile.
“They had been together for 7 months and weeks before the murder happened they had broken up. She asked us for 13 million just to cremate him and then we found out that a funeral home charges us that much to even bring him to Colombia. That’s why we don’t want to know anything about her now,” he says.
In any case, he thanked them for the support they have received from some of Luis’s friends and the Millonarios club, who have been the ones who have been with them in these difficult times.
However, the grieving woman hopes that those who want to provide some type of support will do so selflessly to bury her brother in her homeland.
