Another Capitol Attack, America Still Divided, Cuba in Transition, Central Americans—Please Stay Home! Rwandan Genocide Revisited

Once more, we Capitol Hill residents found our neighborhood on high alert after a man drove his car into a barricade at the capitol building, killing a police officer and being killed himself after threatening with a knife. After more than half a century on the Hill, a once tranquil place, we find ourselves unexpectedly living in a war zone. Until the pandemic struck, followed by the January 6 capitol invasion by Trump supporters, we lived a peaceful life in our friendly, walkable city neighborhood. With easy access to public transportation or just on foot, we frequently visited the capitol, national museums, and monuments, as well as joined demonstrations, July 4 fireworks, and inauguration events. Now, thanks to Donald Trump, we feel under siege.

 

Both the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are now making the case for statehood, but, of course, Republicans will fight tooth and nail to prevent either from becoming a state since both are heavily Democratic.

 

The recent spate of mass shootings all over the nation, all feeding off each other, demonstrates again the urgent need not only to keep firearms out of the hands of people who should not have them, but also to reduce gun ownership overall. Recently, in Chicago, a toddler was shot in the head after a road rage incident fueled by a traffic lane dispute. Surely, the right to life supersedes the right to “bear arms,” as gun ownership, even for self-defense, is statistically associated with risk to the gun owner. Efforts to reduce gun deaths would do well to follow the example of New Zealand, which is aggressively removing firearms from circulation. Some nations with fairly high gun ownership still have relatively few gun deaths, usually those with homogenous populations where firearms are kept in central registries, not private homes. The idea is to reduce the chances that a gun will be used impulsively to settle scores or even commit suicide. Our free-for-all gun policy has made the US the most lethal developed country for firearm deaths.

 

Central American countries sending the most migrants to the US have very high rates of gun violence and virtually no gun control. Most guns there, including ghost gun parts, come from the US.

 

My freedom is curbed by your rights; no right is absolute. I cannot pay loud music far into the night, drive at excessive speed, or shout “fire!” in a crowded theater. Likewise, I should not be able to carry a firearm anywhere and everywhere since that increases the chances of someone getting hurt or killed, maybe me. (Nor should I be able to avoid vaccination and still go wherever I want, as too many others will be exposed to me if I come down with the virus.)

 Trump and rightwing media have recently joined forces to bash the decision to pull the All-Star game out of Georgia to protest new voting restrictions. So, the US culture wars continue. Yet out of office and with his twitter account muffled, Trump now commands only a tiny megaphone.

[Apologies again for the following odd spacing.]

       The following came into my in-box from a Trump supporter, so should I                 give it any more “oxygen” by repeating it here? 

           Avowed communist Vice-President Harris will soon be the President of the US.

 

 Still, it’s a great relief to have Donald Trump actually gone from office and gone from this city, also to have an adult back in charge of our government.     

       We’re slowly recovering from the Trump hangover. Everything is now sprouting and blooming here in Washington, arousing hopes for a better future.

   

 

Melania seems to have decided to continue to cast her lot with Donald for the sake of her son and her parents, who also live with her in Florida, all sharing a comfortable and protected existence there guarded by government security. Since her husband is 28 years her senior and overweight, she is likely to outlast him. She may not sleep in the same bed or bedroom with him, but she has come along way since first arriving on our shores.

 

Joe Manchin is making the most of his crucial pivotal position. As a reputed Democrat in mostly red West Va., he needs Republican votes to remain in office and so is able to play both sides as kingmaker.

 

Prince Philip’s death in the UK at age 99, a totally foreseeable event, has placed Harry in an awkward position.

 

Wash. Post. 4-10-2021, Volcano on St. Vincent erupts, spewing             2- mile-high cloud of ash just hours after evacuation order No deaths have been reported, but one expert said the eruption of the 4,049-foot La Soufrière volcano could “go on for days, weeks, or even months.”

Financial Times. Exit of Cuba’s last Castro brings curtain down on revolutionary era, https://www.yahoo.com/finance/m/97e221e1-a9c4-39cc-87bc-fab8e6d7e14f/exit-of-cuba%E2%80%99s-last-castro.htm

A song popular in south Florida and increasingly popular inside Cuba, to the considerable consternation of Cuban authorities, is Patria y Vida (Fatherland and Life), a mocking of Fidel’s favorite slogan “Patria o Muerte” (Fatherland or Death).

That song together with recent efforts by artists in Cuba, as mentioned before, are driving Cuban authorities crazy. The song and support of the artists’ efforts have spread around the world even though internet access within the country itself is limited and strictly controlled. Below, once again, are items about the Cuban artists.

The Movimiento San Isidro challenges Cuba’s regime. The government has responded with repression. But the dissidents’ movement sees signs of progress, https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2020/12/03/the-movimiento-san-isidro-challenges-cubas-regime

Movimiento San Isidro Explained: What is the San Isidro Movement, posing a stiff challenge to Cuba’s authoritarian regime? The Movimiento San Isidro started two years ago to protest state censorship of artistic works, and has now become a platform for Cuban dissidents both within and outside the Caribbean nation.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-what-is-the-san-isidro-movement-cubas-7103555/

From a friend in Honduras, I’ve heard that he was hospitalized with Covid after his immediate family had fallen ill. He thought he might have escaped the virus until it hit him full force. He has now been released from the hospital and is on the slow road to recovery.

 

The Honduran president’s brother has been sentenced to life in prison in the US for drug trafficking.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-honduras-corruption-idUSKBN2BM39V

The president himself, Juan Orlando Hernández, is also under suspicion.

President Hernandez has been accused of seeking to flood the U.S. with cocaine. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/accused-drug-trafficking-honduran-president-critical-challenge-bidens/story?id=76678729

The current immigration wave from Central America is partly due to the backlog built up under Trump, who had closed the border. Now newly aroused hopes and promotions by smugglers are fueling the onslaught. Do I know anyone who has actually paid a smuggler? The answer is “yes,” and the person involved is now a US citizen so the investment paid off. Likewise, the Ecuadoran toddlers dropped alone over a border fence (by smugglers?) have now been reunited with their parents in the US. Usually, smugglers are paid by US relatives, since those in the country of origin can hardly afford to do so.

 

Would-be migrants and their parents seem to be adapting, unfortunately, to the new message that unaccompanied minors will still be allowed into the US under Biden, leading to very young kids being left alone after crossing the border.  

Central American countries, those sending the most migrants north, have suffered disproportionately from climate change and recent catastrophic climate events, another important migration “push” factor. ‘We Are Doomed’: Devastation From Storms Fuels Migration in Honduras

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/world/americas/migration-honduras-central-america.html?referringSource=articleShare

Exclusive-U.S. considering cash payments to Central America to stem migration (also sending vaccines)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-border-exclusive-idUSKBN2BW2L1

The Biden administration has also placed around 28,000 radio ads in Latin America as part of a stepped-up campaign to discourage people from journeying to the US.

'Don't put your kids' lives at risk': US ramps up ad campaign in Latin America fighting against disinformation, CNN, April 3, 2021,
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/03/politics/border-radio-ad-campaign-latin-america-smugglers/index.html

Five reasons why US faces chronic crisis at border, https://thehill.com/latino/547044-five-reasons-why-us-faces-chronic-crisis-at-border (Reasons include conditions in Central America, human smuggling as a business, and lack of legal pathways.)

Still another reason not mentioned is that for many Central American teenagers, a trek north is an adventure and an expression of independence--a common rite of passage. In my experience, demonstrating that independence has been a “pull” factor for teens for at least 20 years, probably longer. Adolescents do make up the bulk of migrants under 18. For them, warnings about risks will have little effect.

The Biden administration has announced plans to allow more Central Americans to immigrate legally, perhaps as temporary workers? As the pandemic eases, our country will need more working age adults. However, actually offering any such opportunities may only serve to increase the stampede and the immigration bottleneck. Currently, the chances of obtaining a US immigrant visa by someone living in Central America are virtually nil.

There has now been a reexamination of the role played by Belgium and France in the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which over 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis, were killed. Many changes have occurred since. In 2008, the language used in Rwandan schools was changed from French to English and, since then, much government business has been conducted in English, now an official language. After the genocide, I helped form and became a board member of an organization we called Rwandan Children’s Fund. A Rwandan member of our board was named to a government post, along with several other women. I still have t-shirts and Rwandan artifacts like those we sold for fundraising. We focused on paying residential school fees for teens orphaned by the genocide. Often these schools became the only residence for youngsters whose parents had been killed. So I am definitely following the current debate about the responsibility of European powers, whose role in the genocide was characterized by neglect as much as by commission.  

Women who miscarry are now asking their jobs for bereavement leave, again arousing the question of when a fetus gains personhood.