After a day of absolute terror, described by the country’s media as a blow to the heart of U.S. democracy, Vice President Mike Pence formally declared that Joe Biden had obtained 306 electoral college votes, more than the 270 needed to become the 46th President of the United States, reported Prensa Latina. The New York Times also reported that the current President had accepted the transition of power.

In a Twitter message, the new President wrote that he was honored and humbled by the trust that the people had placed in him and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. “It’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation,” he added.

Despite the fatal outcome of the show of force by Trump’s supporters and the outrageous images of the Capitol that circled the globe, the tycoon refused to condemn the events, and precisely because of his misleading and incendiary language was denied his basic means of communication: social media.

Twitter, Facebook and Youtube blocked his accounts and cancelled the content posted by the President. The first of these companies announced that it had temporarily blocked Trump’s account and warned that this measure could be permanent. The platform required the politician to remove three tweets for repeated and serious violations of its “Civic Integrity” policy, meaning that the White House occupant’s account will be down for 12 hours after he removes the messages, and if they are not removed, the account will remain blocked, which could be permanent if future violations occur.

Hours after the devastation in the U.S. Congress, via a video Trump called on his followers to keep the peace and return to their homes, while repeating, without presenting any evidence, that the elections were stolen.

According to Prensa Latina, the clip was removed by Youtube and Facebook, and the latter announced that restrictions on the President’s profile would remain in place for at least two weeks and perhaps “indefinitely,” while similar moves are expected on the social network Instagram, owned by the same company, CNN reported.

Social media operators are seeking and removing content that praises or supports the assault on the Capitol, calls to carry weapons to locations around the country, photos or videos of the rioters, and any attempt to organize more violence.

Donald Trump’s attitude was widely condemned not only on social media, but by multiple world figures, as well. According to former President Barack Obama, resident of the executive mansion from 2009 to 2017, history will remember the violence incited by the current President as a moment of “great dishonor and shame” for the United States.

“It was disgusting and heartbreaking,” said former Republican President George W. Bush. In the opinion of Bill Clinton, Democratic President from 1993 to 2001, that riot was fueled by four years of toxic policies that spread deliberate misinformation, sowed distrust in the U.S. system and pitted the people against each other. For his part, Senator Bernie Sanders stated that Trump would go down in history as the nation’s worst and most dangerous President.

Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, stated in a message on Twitter that the violation of U.S. constitutional order and disrespect for institutions promoted by President Trump to overturn the will of voters, mirror the shameful practices that the U.S. government has repeatedly employed around the world. He added that the acts of vandalism committed on January 6 “are an expression of the crisis of the system and the result of a long period of exclusion, manipulation, political irresponsibility and incitement to hatred.” Many world leaders and the principal media in the United States also repudiated the events.

According to The New York Times, the terror and chaos that shocked the nation caused the deaths of four persons, several police were injured and some 1,100 National Guard troops were mobilized.

In the face of so much uncertainty, many asked: Who were the people involved in the storming of the Capitol?

According to CNN, the mob mainly included members of QAnon and the Proud Boys, two extreme right-wing factions, which President Trump repeatedly refused to condemn during his election campaign last year.

QAnon supporters believe in an absurd theory about the existence of a clique of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who have infiltrated the highest levels of the U.S. government and oppose President Trump. For their part, the Proud Boys are a nationalist, neo-fascist, all-male organization with ties to white supremacists, which promotes and engages in political violence.

One of the issues that attracted most attention was that many protesters were waving the controversial Confederate flag, a symbol of oppression, racism and white supremacy. And according to bbc News, since the mid-twentieth century, this flag has been used to expression opposition to civil rights movements.

The Washington D.C. police department released surveillance camera images of dozens of persons they are attempting to identify as part of their investigation of the riot, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also called for collaboration in identifying instigators of the violence.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)

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)