Ramón Fiallos, known affectionately as “Moncho,” had been an activist for decades and was the local coordinator of his branch of the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice (Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia, MADJ in Spanish,) at the time of his death. He lived in Arizona, in the department of Atlántida. Around 10:00PM on 22 January 2018, Ramón was shot in the arm by police forces sent to quell a demonstration in which he was participating. He died of blood loss.

Ramón was extremely active in the Encampment of Dignity for the Jilamito River (Campamento Digno en Defensa del Río Jilamito) a consortium of 16 communities in the vicinity of Arizona that came together to protect the river. There is another campamento digno in the municipality of Pajuiles, also in Atlántida, where human rights defender Geovanny Díaz Cárcamo was killed within hours of Ramón.

Both encampments had coordinated demonstrations on the evening of January 17th. Ramón was hit by a bullet during the protest in Arizona, while Geovanny’ s public execution occurred later, once the protesters had returned home. For this reason, said MADJ’s radio station Radio Dignidad,  “our grief is amplified from El Retiro, Arizona to Pajuiles, Tela.”