Benjamín Gamond, a 23-year-old young man from Córdoba, passed away this Monday after being attacked with a machete by a man in Mexico. He also suffered injuries Santiago Lastra (also from Cordoba and 22) and his girlfriend Macarena Elía González (a native of Necochea, 29).
On Monday night, his brother Marcos confirmed that the family decided to donate the organs of the young man whose body remains in the most important hospital in the Federal District of Mexico.
“We hope it ends for all of us as soon as possible because it is very painful,” Marcos remarked to the TN news channel.
“We are going to try to donate his organs because that was the will of my brother and the family. He has entered a process to be able to do it because the conditions for that are given, ”he explained.
In this sense, he advanced that the judicial and police investigation that began due to the attack suffered by Benjamín together with Santiago Lastra (22), and Macarena González (29), in the Lagunas de Chacahua, in the state of Oaxaca, is something that could delay the process.
“He is going to leave his heart in Mexico. We ask the governments for authorization to help us expedite the process of repatriating my brother to Argentina and so that we do not fall into the usual bureaucracy of Justice. We want to bring the essence of my brother to his country, ”said Marcos.
Along these lines, the brother of the murdered young man asked for help “so that the process is fast, neat, and transparent, as organ donation should be.”
“It is a very painful, very long, very cumbersome process,” he assured and announced that the will of the family is to donate the organs in Mexico and that they allow cremation to repatriate him to Argentina.
As reported by Cadena 3, from the Federal District hospital they confirmed that an A7 type ablation will be performed, this means that 7 of the young man’s organs will be allocated to people who need them, according to the waiting list in that country.
The organs would be the two kidneys, the lungs, the pancreas, the liver and the heart.
- Everything published about the attack on Benjamin Gamond
The death of Benjamín Gamond from Córdoba in Mexico: how was the attack
The terrible attack occurred on Friday, May 12, while the three were having lunch in a restaurant in the community of Chacahua Isla, municipality of Villa de Tututepec, on the Pacific Ocean coast.
At that moment they were approached by a man who, without saying a word, attacked them with a machete.
After the terrible news of his death, the statements by Jesuhandy Conde Gomez, municipal president of Tututepecand Fernanda Carina González, Macarena’s mother. Fernando Lastra, Santiago’s father, He also told what happened.
Attack with machetes in Mexico: what is known
“Fate played the worst nightmare on them,” Santiago’s father described this Monday morning. Fernando traveled to Mexico to accompany his son.
It was his own son who called his mother on Friday night, from the hospital and with the phone that a nurse lent him, and updated her on what happened, according to Fernando told The voice.
Benjamin, who had suffered head trauma and hypovolemic shock, was transferred in a medical helicopter to Mexico City this Sunday. 72 hours after the attack, the young man from Cordoba died.
As initially reported, the three young Argentines would have had contact with the attacker minutes before the event. This information was finally confirmed by the municipal president and by the relatives of the victims.
In dialogue with the Necochea Digital portal, Macarena’s mother revealed new details about what happened. As she explained, the three Argentines had arrived on the island on Thursday, May 11, one day before the attack, and they met the attacker in the boat that transported them to the place.
“He was talking to them and told them that he was a surf instructor. When they got to the island, he told them that he was from there and that whatever they needed, he was going to walk along the coast, ”Fernanda specified.
Once on the island, Benjamin, Santiago and Macarena settled in the place and spent the night. The next day, always according to the mother’s story, they went to have lunch at a restaurant on the beach.
It was at that moment that they saw that the man was there and Benjamin approached him to ask him if he knew where they could buy surfboards. This information was also confirmed by Jesuhandy Conde Gomez, who told El Doce that they spoke “for 10 minutes.”
“The guy looked at him, as if he didn’t know him,” explained Macarena’s mother. Minutes later, the Argentines left the establishment and, at that moment, the attack took place.
“The attacker ran out of nowhere, like crazy, and attacked him with the machete in the face and head (Benjamín). The only thing he said to her was: ‘They sent you, they sent you,’ ”the woman said as a result of the story that her daughter Macarena told her, at a distance from her.
This was the same information provided by the municipal president, who pointed out that when the subject returned, he first pushed them and then “went directly to the face of the young man (Benjamín) and caused him very severe injuries.”
Both Santiago and Macarena tried to stop the attack. “Maca jumped on top of her so that he wouldn’t attack him anymore and then he cut her. My daughter managed to get up and run to call for help. She also attacked her boyfriend, causing cuts in the area of her arms and a fractured wrist, “reported her mother.
The young woman from Necochán suffered deep cuts on her back, while the other man from Córdoba suffered cuts to his hands and a fracture. Both are out of danger.
The mother described the event as “appalling”: “The paramedics could not believe it, they could not understand how something like this had happened. In the place, people sleep with the doors open, it is tremendously paradisiacal and calm, ”she explained.
Attack with machetes in Mexico: what is known about the attacker
According to the Oaxacan prosecutor’s office, the attacker was identified as Cruz Irving Martínez Flores, a 21-year-old man from Guerrero, a Mexican state.
According to what was reported by the local newspaper El Universal, the subject was detained by those present after the attack and handed over by municipal authorities of Villa de Tututepec to the Regional Deputy Prosecutor of the Coast, accused of the crimes of injury and homicide to the degree of attempt.
Conde Gomez, the municipal president, reported that the attacker “suffers from psychological problems” and that he had consumed “toxic substances” before committing the act.
As confirmed by the prosecutor’s office to El Universal, the defendant passed the detention control on Monday and was remanded in preventive detention.
Everything indicates that he will be charged with a homicide and injuries to two other people. The Oaxaca prosecutor’s office has ordered, among other judicial measures, the carrying out of a series of psychiatric expert reports in order to establish the mental state of the attacker.
“For the Oaxaca Prosecutor’s Office, the prosecution of justice for victims of high-impact crimes is essential, which is why all the necessary actions are carried out to clarify the cases, as well as to strengthen the investigations that allow judges to have the necessary elements ”, said the Mexican Justice in a statement on Sunday.
“The Regional Deputy Prosecutor of the Coast carried out various procedures of expert medical, chemical and criminal specialists to deepen the investigation,” it was remarked.
For their part, local authorities also issued a statement repudiating what happened.
“The Municipal Government and the community of Chacahua Isla strongly condemn these violent acts and as background we report that the aggressor, named Cruz Irving Martínez Flores (21), is originally from Ometepec Guerrero and arrived in this municipality in search of employment, therefore which has no relationship with the community”, it was pointed out.
“We ask the Oaxaca State Prosecutor’s Office to carry out their work professionally and comply with the corresponding procedure that allows sanctioning the aggression suffered by the three Argentine tourists, for whom we are at the best willingness to collaborate as appropriate,” it was remarked. .
WHO WAS BENJAMÍN GAMOND, THE CORDOBAN ATTACKED IN MEXICO
Originally from Córdoba, Benjamín played rugby in the Club Talawho also participated in a collection to help the family. From an early age he shared the same hobby with his friend Santiago de él.
Benjamin had 7 siblings and his family described him as “a beautiful, good, humble and friendly kid.”
This was not his first trip to Mexico, as Benjamín settled in Tulum for the second consecutive year to work during the season in the gastronomic area of the east coast of the Yucatán peninsula and thus save a few pesos. Santiago Lastra (22), his childhood friend, accompanied him in this venture. The two, together with Macarena Elía González (29), were victims of the attack.
His older brother, Marcos, told in the last few hours to Clarion who in the past had the same experience on an island in the United States. “Usually they are seasons of 5 or 6 months. Since my brother did not speak the language very well, he preferred to go to Mexico. In general, when the season ends they go to Europe or the United States to continue working in the gastronomic area. But my brother preferred to return to Argentina, ”he explained, before the fateful news was released.
Upon concluding the contract in the paradisiacal Tulum, Benjamín and Santiago had decided to undertake a trip with the money they earned to see the other coastOaxaca, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Macarena, Santiago’s girlfriend, a native of Necochea, joined the vacation.
Santiago Lastra, the second attack from Cordoba
The second young man from Córdoba is Santiago Lastra, whose father arrived in Mexico during the afternoon-night of Sunday and released a first part of the state of health of the boys.
“Hello, I just arrived in Puerto Escondido where I met Santi (his son and victim of the attack) luckily he is very well, he has an injury to his hand and a fracture that is already sewn up and recovering,” said Fernando Lastra .
“Santi and Benja’s friendship goes back to the M8back in the year 2008. They were, without a doubt, the ‘smallest’ in their division and, as the rule dictates, they would be scrum half. I was lucky to train them and enjoy them in M8, M9, M13 and M14 and then continue accompanying them to the pre-school and the squad”, wrote Santiago’s father in relation to the trajectory of the young people in the Tala club rugby team.
In turn, he added on his Instagram account: “Intelligent, temperamental and always leaving everything on the field, they earned the respect, admiration and above all the affection of their peers and coaches. They always disputed number 9 and perhaps that united them forever in a beautiful friendship.