Belkis Teran walked over to the microphone to face nearly 100 people. Then she spoke. On Saturday, Jan. 18, along the stretch of the Atlanta Beltline closest to the Old Fourth Ward skatepark, the mother of the late Esteban “Tortugita” Paez Teran shouted “Viva, viva Tortuguita” and “ Stop Cop City .”
Teran, currently residing in Panama, flew to Atlanta this weekend to speak at what was being billed as a “Day of Resistance” rally about having faith in the human race and believing that people can do what’s right if they work together. “Each one of you is important to me even if I don’t know your lives,” she said. “We have a shared purpose. We have to get strong, and the way to get strong is to heal.”
Belkis said she has been receiving positive messages from people in Atlanta through her social media accounts and added that she is dedicating the rest of her life to this movement.
“I think we have a lot to teach about his life,” Belkis said of her late son’s life as a member of the resistance to the building of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center , more popularly known as “Cop City.”…