The glass was literally broken yesterday in the “showcase of democracy” with which the United States has presumed to give the world lessons, when violent supporters of President Donald Trump invaded and disrupted the Capitol in Washington, the seat of Congress, as Representatives and Senators were preparing to confirm Democrat Joe Biden as the country’s next President.
The assault on the Capitol is the most serious attack in the history of the building that symbolizes U.S. power, since the British set it on fire, along with the White House and other government institutions, on August 24, 1814, after winning the battle of Bladensburg.
The sobering events may remind us of others in the confines of this city, like the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, who was shot in the head while attending a performance at the Ford Theatre, the result of a major conspiracy in the context of the Civil War, or what took place March 1, 1954, when Puerto Rican patriots Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irvin Flores, and Andrés Figueroa forced their way into the House of Representatives chamber at the Capitol to draw the world’s attention to Puerto Rico’s colonial status and the U.S. government’s repression of the island’s independence movement.
What few in that country will mention is the danger still lingering after the night of April 30, 2020 when, very close to the White House, a terrorist fired an AK-47 rifle into the Cuban embassy, another violent act some may have forgotten, given the complicit silence of the current U.S. administration.
(Taken from Granma)