Laborer of Alta Mira, Corozal murdered

Santos Alberto Ramirez

A Salvadoran laborer of Altamira, Corozal Town was murdered and is believed to have been dumped on a farm between Santa Clara and Buena Vista on the Northern Highway. Santos Alberto Ramirez was out drinking with friends on Saturday night but he never returned home. His body, bearing multiple stab wounds, was discovered on Sunday afternoon by a farmer of the area. Ramirez’s mother says that a few days before his killing he was being threatened by people he knew. Ramirez’ family says he has been living in Belize since he was a child, but police have not been able to confirm this detail. News Five’s Andrea Polanco went north and spoke with the grieving mother who wished to appear off camera.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

Less than three days after he started receiving death threats, twenty five year old Santos Ramirez of Altamira, Corozal was discovered dead. Ramirez’s body was discovered on a farm off the Northern Highway between miles sixty-nine and seventy:

Reina Hernandez Amaya: Mother of the deceased

“Well the only thing I know is that my son was threatened. Early Thursday morning he told me about it but he said not to say anything so as not to endanger anyone who lives at home but I spoke about and what he said. That’s all I know. I just want justice for my son who was taken away from me.”

Amaya last saw her son on Saturday morning before he rushed off without saying where he was going. But reports are that on Saturday night Ramirez was drinking at two bars in Alta Mira, including Reina del Norte:

Reina Hernandez Amaya

“Well I have spoken to the owner of the bar and she was he was drinking there for a while and he left for another bar and supposedly was threatened and left walking with a beer in each hand and he was picked up from there some thee to four blocks away from my house.”

Andrea Polanco

“Do you know if he was involved in any fight at that bar?”

Reina Hernandez Amaya

“No, apparently not because his friends told me other son that he was joking and asking his friends if they wanted a beer that he was going to buy it. That was all because my son didn’t get into trouble with no one, with no one because he was always calm. The only thing I know him to have trouble with is the threats he was receiving on Thursday and up until the time they took his life that’s the only problem.”

Andrea Polanco

But Ramirez wasn’t a trouble maker, according to his mother, who also says she can’t think of any reason why anyone would want her son dead:

Reina Hernandez Amaya

“He didn’t have any enemies as far as I know only the guy who had threatened him on Thursday, that’s as far as I know.”

Andrea Polanco

“You don’t know why anyone or that guy who was sending the threats would want to kill him?”

Reina Hernandez Amaya

“Yes, well they killed him because there was someone who wanted to kill two of them. But he said no, because he had worked for ten years with those persons who are parents of the boy so they wouldn’t kill him but yes they said they would kill him and so said, so done.”

Andrea Polanco

“But no reason was given? No motive known?”

Reina Hernandez Amaya

“No, no reason at all. I just don’t know apart from the little he told me of the threats.”

So, why was Ramirez a target? His mother says robbery isn’t the motive and she believes clues can be found on his missing cell phone and from the friends he met a week ago:

Reina Hernandez Amaya

“No, not robbery. Apparently he had some money in his wallet but that hasn’t been handed over to me as yet. But his cell wasn’t found and his watch is still there along with the wallet but I don’t know how much money he had in his wallet.”

Andrea Polanco

“So, that person who was threatening him what kind of messages was he sending?”

Reina Hernandez Amaya

“Exactly when he was telling me he said, “mom, I am going to call the boy and you can listen to what he is saying.’ He called twice but the boy didn’t reply and he sent him two messages but he didn’t respond to those either.”

Andrea Polanco

“Which guy is that? He is here from Corozal?”

Reina Hernandez Amaya

“Yes he is from here.”

Andrea Polanco

“And you believe he is the one who killed your son?”

Reina Hernandez Amaya

“Yes, he is. He is exactly the one, there’s no one else. But he didn’t do it alone, there are several others involved. Unfortunately they haven’t found my son’s cellular phone because there they would be able to confirm who all are involved in this.”

Andrea Polanco

“Was your son a friend of this guy or not?”

Reina Hernandez Amaya

“Why not, about a week ago he became friends with those boys. But they are all minors, at least one of them, so it’s like a week or eight days they’ve been hanging out.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Andrea Polanco.

Several persons have been detained in connection with Ramirez’s murder. A post-mortem is scheduled for Tuesday in Corozal.