Violence and Democracy

By: Pedro Corzo - 26/07/2024

Guest columnist.
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I was at the birthday meal of my friend and fellow fighter, the writer Jose Antonio Albertini, when the poet Tony Ruano told me that they had tried to kill President Donald Trump, during an event of his electoral campaign for the presidency, information, that , in a few minutes, Ángel de Fana confirmed us through a phone call.

Knowing that President Trump had survived was a great joy, because beyond the human condition of the former president, the reproduction of the murder of such an important figure would be catastrophic for the nation. Painful experience that the United States has suffered at least four times, not counting the assassinations against candidates.

I immediately remembered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I was in Cuba, talking with my girlfriend at the time, later my wife and mother of my daughter, in the park of a small city called San Diego del Valle, where despite being on a plain the anti-communist guerrillas that Demetrio had commanded " Nano” Pérez, had put the Castros in check.

On that occasion, my girlfriend's sister-in-law gave me the news. She told me, "they just killed your boss in the United States." “To your president.”

The assassination of the president touched us Cubans very closely, as did the subsequent death of his brother Robert and the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, a man who, like Trump, did not allow himself to be intimidated by the proximity of the death.

The news of the attack on Trump moved us all. Unfortunately, violence is a harsh reality, but the acts of assassinations had long been off the news radar and it would be particularly negative for the stability of the country if these types of crimes resurfaced, whether individual or conspiratorial.

The exercise of democracy and the enjoyment of freedom should be incompatible with violence, however, the enjoyment of these two contexts is far from reality because democracy is so generous and freedom so broad, that extremists of all trends have a place in the joy of both.

The United States of America, despite its imperfections, in my opinion, by far the best country in the world has a violent work that contradicts the climate of rights and opportunities that the majority of citizens enjoy, conditions that must be maintained, even if its enemies Do everything possible to interrupt them.

The frustrated assassination attempt against President Donald Trump must be framed in the anti-establishment behavior practiced by the enemies of democracy located at the extremes of the norms that have governed this country since its founding.

There have been many who have attempted to destroy the rule of law that we enjoy in this country. The defunct Soviet Union and its intramural associates sought it with great dedication, exacerbating with all the means at their disposal the social and political discontent existing at that time.

Let us keep in mind that in that despicable mission the enemies of the United States had the help of Cuban totalitarianism, which had nuclear weapons in its territory and invited the Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev to launch the first atomic missile against New York.

In all fairness, American democracy is currently in no less danger than we experienced during the Cold War. The threats from Russia, China and Iran are more than real and unfortunately have the assistance of several countries in the hemisphere that share a visceral hatred against everything that represents the way of life of this country.

Furthermore, a kind of crisis in our way of living cannot be excluded. I particularly appreciate a certain breakdown in respect for Law and Order on the part of the citizens and even those who are obliged to defend and impose those concepts, which is why it is prudent to remember what President Reagan expressed, “Regardless of what the Whatever story you may say of me when I am gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; for his confidence more than his doubts. My dream is that they remember the path ahead, with the lamp of freedom guiding their steps and the arm of opportunity affirming their path.”

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».