Conexion February web

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2 | www.conexionflorida.com
Published BY: Conexión Media Group president/managing editor David Triana conexionflorida@gmail.com vice president Donald Whitney Colaboradores / Collaborators: Marcos Otero, Erika Rojas, Peggy Brockam, Dr. María Pouncey, Pastor Gabriel Vargas, Brenda Melara, Elizabeth Ricci, Dave Skinner, Alan Pacek, Ángel Pomales, Jaime Venezia, Barbara Britt, Deborah Desilets, Cetta Barnhart, Monica A. Heimes, Martin Owen, Yolanda Goode, Nelsi Rossi Gráfica y Diagramación / Graphic Design John Gorman - Woodpecker Designs woodpeckerdesigns@yahoo.com RepresentanteS de Ventas / Account ExecutiveS Account Executive, Pensacola/SE Alabama - Gabriel Vargas Account Executive Leader, Tallahassee - Erika Rojas ADVERTISing dept. Call 850-368-3505 or e-mail us today at conexionflorida@gmail.com Equipo de Distribución / Distribution Team Estela Elías, Gabriel Vargas, Erika Rojas Proofreading & Translations Lessie Correa 5,000 copias impresas por mes 5,000 copies printed per month Más de 100 centros de distribución - Over 100 distribution spots The BRIDGE that CONNECTS businesses and other entities to the growing Hispanic Market El PUENTE que CONECTA a las empresas y otras entidades con el creciente mercado Hispano Conexión es una publicación mensual de Conexión Media Group. Los artículos y editoriales firmadas no reflejan necesariamente la opinión del periódico y son responsabilidad exclusiva de sus autores. Conexión no es responsable, no garantiza, ni asegura de manera alguna los productos y ofertas que aparecen en la publicidad contratada. Todo el material gráfico y editorial contenido en esta publicación es propiedad exclusiva de Conexión y se prohíbe reproducirlo, en parcial o en total, sin autorización del periódico. Conexión is a monthly publication of Conexión Media Group. The articles and signed editorials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this newspaper and are the sole responsibility of its authors. Conexión is not responsible, does not guarantee, and does not vouch for any of the products and offers that appear in our paid advertising. All the graphic and editorial material included in this publication is the exclusive property of <strong>Conexion</strong> and its reproduction, partial or total is prohibited, without authorization from the newspaper. CONEXIóN MEDIA GROUP 2210 Gozo Court | Navarre, Florida 32547 Tel: 850-368-3505 E-mail: conexionflorida@gmail.com www.conexionflorida.com a man cont. other Chileans who lived in Destin, a beach town in Florida. He had arrived the previous December to work in a program called Working Holiday with his girlfriend, Racine Balbontín. That evening they were having a party when Dannie Roy Baker—a retired US citizen with psiquiatric problems and xenophobic ideas—showed up with a shotgun and shot at the group. The attack finished with Nicolás Corp and Racine Balbontín dead, plus three other Chileans wounded. One of them was Francisco Cofré, whose face was wounded and had to spend 21 days fighting for his life in the hospital. Afterwards came the interviews for newspapers and newscasts around the world. His case was the worst among the survivors of the first hate crime committed against Chileans in the United States. When he was operated to retrieve the bullet in Pensacola, they realized the bullet had entered through the right cheek, traveled across the right side of the head, descended through the neck and was lodged in the back, near the spine. It did not hurt his motor functions, though he lost his sight in the right eye and hearing on the same side. “The doctor that took care of me in the United States said the bullet had made a letter “z” avoiding the main arteries. He didn’t talk about a miracle, but he did say that the trajectory was unexplainable. I don’t see it as a miracle either, but I truly believe I was very fortunate.” says Francisco, while sitting at a coffee shop in Las Condes. He looks to the left to show the scar that crosses the right side of his face. “Today I feel like the happiest and most fortunate man in the world after going through that massacre. That’s why I need to repay the rest of the group.” Closing the Circle This ending, a calm man, is the end of the story. Because during these ten years, Francisco had to go through a lot of things. He follows the chronological order and starts to remember that March in 2009, when he woke up at the Pensacola hospital, another beach town in Florida. After the shooting, he had been flown there in a helicopter since that hospital was the best equipped in the region to treat such a complicated case as his. Then, he only had vague memories of that <strong>February</strong> 26: the get-together with the other Chileans at a condominium in Miramar Beach, then at midnight when they deciced to go with Racine thinking about a job interview the next day, the shots he heard when they were ready to leave the house. “I saw Racine covering her chest and bending over. It was then that I realized what was happenning. I ran and pushed her to the ground trying to encourage her to live. According to the doctors, she must have died seconds after the shot, since it went directly to her heart.” he tells us since now he knows what happened, but ten years ago his doctors chose to delay that information. “When I was in intensive care, I worried about her. I felt I needed to go to her and give her my energy, to encourage her to get better. Every day I asked about her and was told that she was at a hospital in another city. They did not allow me to check my computer nor watch television. When I was out of intensive care, a psychologist at the hospital was going to tell me, but my father courageously said he would do it. That’s how I found out.” He said. What did you do after you found out she had died? I cried and cried; and selfishly, I told my parents that I should have died instead of her. I started looking in my computer for our pictures, the messages that we had sent each other. I cried and cried for hours. Afterwards, you stayed two more months at the hospital building yourself up physically and emotionally before returning to Chile. I feel I grew up again at the hospital. I was like a baby. Since the bullet had fractured my jaw, I had to be fed with a pump and I was unable to walk due to the damage to my ear which made me lose my balance. My parents came to keep me company, and with them, I started to learn to walk and eat again. My second birth was during this stage. continued page 23 www.conexionflorida.com | 3
Page 1: Vol. 5 • Issue 2 • Feb. 2019 In
Page 5 and 6: un hombre cont. de chilenos que viv
Page 7 and 8: ¿Que Pasa Tally? A Valentine to Ti
Page 9 and 10: Opinión - Columnistas & Blogs Opin
Page 11 and 12: un hombre cont. -¿Cómo reconstrui
Page 13 and 14: www.conexionflorida.com | 13
Page 15 and 16: • Dolor en el cuello, mandíbula,
Page 17 and 18: NUESTRA COMUNIDAD OUR COMMUNITY Jan
Page 21 and 22: Heart Month By Marcos Otero - Gulf
Page 23 and 24: Marcando La Diferencia Making a Dif
Page 25 and 26: NEGOCIOS & FINANZAS Business & Fina
Page 27 and 28: a man cont. Start a new relationshi
Page 31: www.conexionflorida.com | 31

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