Spanish
Buenos Aires.- Dozens of fans of the British singer Liam Payne gathered this Thursday in front of the CasaSur hotel in Buenos Aires, where the artist died on October 16, 2024 after falling from the third floor, and paid tribute to him after a year of his death.
Young Argentinian women and admirers from Chile, Mexico, and other Latin American countries attended the tribute, lighting candles, listening to the artist's songs, and reading an open letter in his memory. The meeting was organized by the 'Forever LP Latam' community, which brings together fans of the former One Direction member in the region. The group also displayed a huge banner with messages and letters sent by fans from different parts of the world, such as the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Canada, and New Zealand, among others.You can read: Daddy Yankee recommends new artists sign prenuptial agreements
One of those who approached this Thursday was Romina Verónica Gómez, who visits the CasaSur hotel and the bank installed in honor of Payne in the British cemetery of Buenos Aires every week. "I come every weekend to both the cemetery and here, to clean it, to leave flowers. It makes me feel good, I feel good energy," she told EFE. Since Payne's passing last year, the CasaSur hotel door has been transformed into a sanctuary with photographs, flowers, stuffed animals, and objects placed there by followers who visited him over the past year. Verónica Petrizo left a copy of 'The Dagger of Your Help' there this Thursday, a book she wrote immediately after the singer's death to channel the pain she felt. "It's good to understand that a person you may not have met could have made a big impact on you. That when no one listened to you, when the world turned its back on you, that person, even from afar, was your guide. And no one has the right to tell you anything about that," Petrizo told EFE. Another person present was Valeria Riosa, who told EFE that the group that organized the meeting and that has been taking care of the sanctuary since April emerged as a support network among admirers of the musician: "We were very upset with what had happened, and after that our group became stronger. We started doing charitable works and asking for justice, as a way to heal ourselves as well." Among the attendees was also Alejandro Dylan Ifrán, 26 years old, one of the few men among those gathered, who demanded: “We want justice to know what happened. We want the truth and for those responsible to pay for what they did.” Liam Payne died at the age of 31 after falling into an interior patio of the hotel after having consumed, during the three days he stayed there, significant amounts of alcohol and cocaine that he combined with antidepressants. The autopsy revealed that the singer's death was caused by "multiple injuries" and "internal and external bleeding," and the analyses ruled out self-inflicted injuries or the physical intervention of third parties. The experts concluded that the former One Direction member did not protect himself in the fall, so they inferred that "he may have fallen in a state of semi or total unconsciousness". In the legal case for Payne's death, five people were prosecuted, three of whom - Rogelio Nores, his manager and friend; Gilda Martín, hotel manager; and Esteban Grassi, head of reception - were acquitted on February 19th, despite the appeals and appeals of the Prosecutor's Office. While awaiting the start of the trial, Braian Nahuel Paiz and Ezequiel Pereyra, aged 22 and 25 respectively, remain under investigation and in pre-trial detention, both accused of having sold drugs to the singer in the days leading up to his death. At the closing of the tribute, Payne's fans read a collective letter: "Every memory we have of you makes us smile and at the same time cry, because of the injustice that you are no longer here. Your legacy is a masterpiece of love, the most genuine melody that made millions of desperate hearts dance and sing."
