Dr Naum Bonilla touched hundreds of lives and last night, many of those same people demanded justice for his murder.
As we've reported Dr Bonilla was killed on Friday morning while taking his daughter to work. He was ambushed and fatally shot with his daughter in the backseat.
But before that shocking end, he worked as an internist at Belmopan Medical Imaging and held medical clinics in various communities.
And that community connection was the starting point for the rally and candlelight vigil held in his honor yesterday evening. Courtney Menzies was there and has this story.
Medical professionals, patients, friends, and family of Dr Naum Bonilla walked the Ring Road in Belmopan, demanding justice for the murder of the beloved doctor. Bonilla's murder sent shockwaves through the medical fraternity, the wider community of Belmopan and the surrounding villages he served. At the start of the rally, his wife lamented that he spent more years studying than serving.
Maria Bonilla, Wife of Deceased
"This is something that is really hard, what I just think and it makes me feel bad is that he took most of his life studying. He spent 14 years in this career of medicine and he just practice almost 7 years, he was just starting and I know that there's a lot of people that he's helped. Their health was on his hands and I have met a lot of people that have told me, I'm alive because of Dr Bonilla and I can't believe how this person came and took his life in that way. So I just ask for justice and I think we will get to know who did that to him."
And close to 500 people joined her - including the mayor, staff of the Ministry of Health, and the area rep.
Pablo Cawich, Mayor of Belmopan
"It's very sad to see that this happens anywhere in our country, especially in Belmopan where we have seen that it is very safe, it's unfortunate that these things happen anywhere in our country and we need to stand together during these difficult times to ensure that we show the community that we will not stand for these things. As I mentioned in my short words, I expressed that anytime the community can help the police with information to bring justice to cases we need to ensure that we do that."
Dr Melissa Diaz, Director of Health and Wellness
"It's very significant for us at the Ministry of Health, we support all our doctors in every way, not just in working conditions but everything else that affects them. It's very emotional to see everybody out here and we're here to support the family, the loved ones and the team that he's worked with."
Oscar Mira, Area Rep/Minister of Home Affairs
"Someone who has given his life to service to our community was killed and I believe that we have to come together as a community to ensure that his legacy, to ensure that we don't ever forget his contribution to the development of Belmopan and the surroundings. Someone that I knew, someone who had aspirations and big dreams, someone who comes from the same background as I did, someone who went to school with my younger brother."
Dr Virginia Smith, Director, Belmopan Medical Imaging Center
"Aside from being a little bit tired after that walk, I'm extremely pleased and pleasantly surprised at the result of this rally. Many of our colleagues from many districts, many clinics, some of the hospitals in Belize City surprised me with van fulls and bus fulls of people who accompanied me, the family and the staff and the doctors here in Belmopan. In addition, many of the patients of Dr Bonilla also came out and I'm so happy that as a medical group, we're able to offer them some support, some comfort because they are the ones who are suffering right now without somebody to turn to, without a doctor to give them medical attention."
The community lost a healer and the area rep - who doubles as the Minister of Home Affairs - offered comfort by reassuring the public that an arrest may be made very soon - and they would do everything they could to secure a conviction.
Oscar Mira, Minister of Home Affairs
"Investigation is going very well, I got briefed today and I think that we have made big strides and we'll be making sure that we give the investigators the resources they need to bring this to a closure."
"I think that there are two cases that many of us Belizeans, myself included, were very skeptical. We had a case here in Belmopan that many of us thought, I wonder if there would be a conviction and I want to applaud the investigators for doing a thorough job. And in this case, I want to say that I'm going to make sure that whatever it is we need, if we need to bring foreigners, if we need to bring anybody to help us with the investigation, to help us with the prosecution and conviction, we're going to do that."
