Iván Tito Torres says goodbye to Vita Aranda: "Nothing will be the same without you

Cristina "Vita" Aranda, only 29 years old, died last Sunday night after being shot during the "Ja'umína" festival at the José Asunción Flores Amphitheater in San Bernardino.

"Vita" was a model, businesswoman and influencer known for motivating and encouraging a healthier lifestyle in her social networks, demonstrating her exercises that her audience enthusiastically embraced every day. Numerous commercial brands chose her to promote their products. She was also the wife of Iván "Tito" Torres, who played for Club Olimpia for several years.

News of her death went around the world and put Paraguay in the headlines. Most of the media focused on unraveling the person of Aranda and the attack itself, which - in principle - was related to the business of a drug trafficker.

Iván "Tito" Torres says goodbye to "Vita" Aranda: "Nothing will be the same without you."

Aranda became known in Paraguay through an appearance on the television program "Calle 7", as reported by the British portal BBC in its Spanish edition. The Argentine portal Infobae reported that the attack "shocked her environment and the public." "The entrepreneur, who owned the Vita clothing brand, was born in Chaco and began her modeling career at the age of 15," Infobae added.

Bogotá newspaper El Tiempo stressed that the incident occurred at a time when the Binomio de Oro group was performing at the amphitheater. "The music festival was attended by groups such as Damas Gratis from Argentina and Binomio de Oro from Colombia. The latter was performing at the exact moment the shooting occurred," the South American media website said.

Argentina's Clarín and La Nación newspapers, two of the country's leading newspapers, also reported on Aranda's death and the events at the amphitheater in their online editions. "With her enviable figure, for example, she was very active in the sale of sportswear, virtual fitness courses and weight loss diet plans," Clarín said, while La Nación highlighted Aranda's role as an influencer.

In the United States, the Telemundo Group portals published the information transmitted by the EFE news agency from Paraguay. "The police have informed that the initial investigation indicates that Cristina 'Vita' Aranda, Torres' wife, who plays for the Olimpia club in Paraguay, was a 'collateral victim,'" it said. This information also reached the Mexican newspaper Milenio.

The news also reached the Russian portal Russia Today (RT) in its Spanish edition. "The young woman who died after being shot in the head was a well-known influencer of various brands who had nearly 500,000 followers on her Instagram account. Aranda also used her networks to promote her own clothing line called "Vita," while growing her niche audience by posing as a fitness and personal trainer," the media portal reported.

The alleged target of the attack was Paraguayan national José Luis Bogado Quevedo, who is the suspected leader of a gang dedicated to drug and arms trafficking.

Paraguayans bid last farewell to soccer player's wife killed after shooting

The model and influencer Cristina "Vita" Aranda, wife of soccer player Iván Torres, who lost her life after a shooting during a concert in Paraguay, was buried on Tuesday amid expressions of affection and grief from her numerous followers.

The caravan that accompanied the white carriage with Aranda's coffin was awaited at the exit of the wake hall Parque Serenidad, in Asuncion, by people waving balloons and white handkerchiefs.

The funeral cortege made its way through the streets of the city amid applause and the sound of horns and was escorted by motorcycles and vehicles that spontaneously joined the route to the cemetery in the city of Limpio, located some 19 kilometers from the Paraguayan capital.

"Vita", as the young woman was known in the country, was wounded in the head in the middle of a shooting that took place last Sunday during the Ja'umina Fest music show and died shortly after in a nearby hospital.

Another person died at the scene and at least six others were injured.

Authorities are investigating whether the incident is related to an attack by hired killers and linked to organized crime.

Among the injured is Xoana Daniela Barrientos, wife of Víctor Salazar, Torres' teammate at the Olimpia club in Paraguay. She suffered a fracture and had to undergo surgery, while the player was hospitalized for post-traumatic stress disorder, according to local media.

Initial investigations indicate that Aranda and Barrientos, who attended the concert with their husbands, were waiting in line to enter the bathrooms located in the VIP area of the José Asunción Flores amphitheater when the shooting occurred.

Torres, who also played for the Argentinean team Colón, thanked his late wife of 29 years for the three children of their marriage.

"I promise you that I will miss you very much, nothing will be the same without you, just thank you for these 11 years by my side," Torres said in a message on his Instagram account, which he closed with "I LOVE YOU."

Commenting on the shooting, Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez said his country is living a "day of mourning" and lamented that "innocent families were victims of organized crime.