I recently wrote about volunteering on Democrat phone banks calling Spanish-speaking voters, first in advance of the presidential election and, then, in advance of the runoff election of two US Senate seats in Georgia. It was energizing to connect with enthusiastic volunteers and decent Americans committed to our country’s betterment. It gave me faith that, despite the dismal rhetoric being spouted by the Republicans and their candidate, America remained the country my parents represented abroad.
Well, there is power in people. Through #llamandocontigo, an effort of 2020 Victory, I helped elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on November 3, a result whose affirmation by the Congress finally came yesterday amid the tear gas fumes left behind by Trump’s seditious followers.
AP Photo, Julio Cortez
UDH Pasadena, Mijente, and Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight And, on January 5, we helped elect the Reverend Raphael Warnock — the first Black elected senator from Georgia — and Jon Ossoff — the state’s first Jewish senator and, at 33, the youngest member of the Senate. These two wins return the Senate to the Democrats, thus giving Biden congressional support in the challenging four years that begin January 20.
President Biden now has the political support to help him address a killer virus running rampant and an economy torn asunder by the pandemic, but America remains a dangerously polarized country. Laid low by the past four years’ “America first” actions, our image abroad is no longer that of the world’s leading democracy. World leaders’ reactions to the storming of the US Capitol yesterday reveal the shock of our allies …
Insurgent words turn into violent acts – on the steps of the Reichstag, and now in the Capitol . The disdain for democratic institutions is devastating
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas
Shocking scenes in Washington, D.C. The outcome of this democratic election must be respected.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg
… and the smugness of our enemies. The Chinese government points at the five deaths in yesterday’s violence and none in last year’s Hong Kong violence. The words in the reaction of Venezuela — where my family began its Foreign Service journey amidst a revolution — could have been cut and pasted from a US Embassy missive to repressive governments:
Venezuela expresses its concern over the acts of violence that are taking place in the city of Washington, USA; condemns political polarization and aspires that the American people can blaze a new path toward stability and social justice.
Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Belgium all said on Saturday they would recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, left, as interim president unless President Nicolas Maduro called fresh elections within eight days. (Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images)
Wednesday’s opposition rally against Venezuelan President Maduro (and pro American-supported activist Guaidó) marked the 61st anniversary of the overthrow of Venezuelan president Perez Jimenez.
I have recreated the events of that day in the title story of my draft memoir, WHEN THE DICTATOR FLEW OVER OUR HOUSE & OTHER TRUE STORIES, from which this excerpt is taken. For more insight into the American Embassy’s delicate diplomatic position, I will post portions of Dad’s 1994 historic first-person account of that day, the attack on Vice President Nixon some months later, and the rest of his 1955-59 first post: HOW DEMOCRACY TRIUMPHED OVER DICTATORSHIP. https://www.amazon.com/How-Democracy-Triumphed-Over-Dictatorship/dp/1879383330
PART II. [Perez Jimenez has fled Venezuela. The American Embassy team is watching and listening through the night.]
Dad turned down the radio for a minute and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. He took a deep breath. “We’re to sit tight. Hard to tell what’s going to happen, but better to be here together than get caught up by a crowd in the street.”
Supporters of the Venezuelan opposition marching in Caracas on Wednesday, the anniversary of the 1958 uprising that overthrew the military dictatorship.CreditCreditAdriana Loureiro/Reuters
He wasn’t sure how much my mother had heard about the deadly chaos of rampaging mobs the last time Venezuelans threw out a tyrant. The Canadian Embassy had approached the office several months ago about consolidating evacuations. That had seemed like a remote possibility. Maybe not anymore. The Embassy was in downtown Caracas, several miles away from the tree-lined residential neighborhood on the western edge of town where we and several other Embassy families lived. Time to touch base with one of those colleagues.
“Let me give Russ a call.” He lifted the receiver and dialed. He spoke quietly into the receiver as Fina arrived with the coffee, her face noticeably more relaxed.
“Algo mas?” Anything else?
My mother forced her lips into a smile.“No, gracias, Fina.”
The maid nodded.“Pues, buenas noches.”
“Buenas noches.” Good night. My mother took a sip of the strong brew. None of that wimpy American coffee down here, and there was so much more they truly loved about this place. She took another sip, allowing the liquid heat to relax her back into the sofa.
Riot police clashing with opposition demonstrators (2019) .CreditYuri Cortez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Dad hung up the phone and turned the radio back up. Better to know what’s coming. He sat back. “Okay, so maybe there’s something,”
My mother was instantly back on high alert.
“We may want to hide the car,” he said.
“Hide the car?”
“They’re looking for PJ’s head honchos. Russ just had a mob in front of their house thinking his diplomatic plates were Venezuelan issue for the regime. Lucky for them they headed down the block before Russ pulled out his gun.”
“His gun?” Mom sat up straighter. “We don’t have a gun.” She paused. “Do we?”
“No. And, no, I don’t think it’s going to come to that.”
The radio crackled as an enthusiastic voice broke in.
“Periodistas!” he said. Newspaper editors! You are finally free. Tell the public that the dictator is gone!
“Imagine that,” my father said. “An uncensored paper. First time in ten years.”
“The car?” my mother prompted. The diplomatic plates on the Oldsmobile sitting in our driveway a few feet from the street could easily be confused with those issued for the Venezuelan government. “Do you think maybe we should put out the American flag? I mean, we’re the good guys, right?”
Senator Marco Rubio, center, Republican of Florida, has become a chief policy architect and de facto spokesman in a campaign to involve the United States in the unrest that is now gripping Venezuela.CreditMandel Ngan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
My father considered the suggestion. “Well, we know we’re the good guys,” he said, “but I’m not so sure everyone agrees. Better play it safe. Got some Crisco?”
My mother hurried back to the kitchen and returned with the blue tub. Dad dipped out a handful. He opened the front door slowly, paused, and stepped out. The air was still and heavy with the scent of ripe mango. The pop pop pop of fireworks echoed from downtown, or was that gunfire? But nothing closer.
My mother huddled by the doorway as Dad crept across the little yard to the Oldsmobile, dropping down to smear the license plate with grease and dirt. He hurried back inside and my mother shut the door, securing the lock. Dad turned off the radio. They both took a breath.
“Let’s try to get some sleep,” he said.
The words were barely out of his mouth when a car careened around our corner, brakes screeching, horn blaring in defiance of Perez Jimenez’ edict against honking. My mother froze, her eyes wide. Would the Olds camouflage work? They didn’t have the firepower Russ had used to intimidate the crowd at his door. But the driver and his euphoric passengers flew by cheering and continued toward downtown.
“Like winning the big game,” Dad said, downplaying the anxious moment with a shrug of his shoulders. Another car swept loudly by. “I think all the action’s downtown. Nothing more to do except get that rest. I think it’s going to be a long day.”
Mom looked in on us girls again. Susie and I were still fast asleep, untroubled by the noise and innocent of the drama unfolding around us. Mom wondered if she’d be up to the task of keeping to a normal routine in a city that was in chaos. My preschool would be closed so both us kids would be home, and Mom hoped that Dad would stay home as well. She’d need to watch Fina: Susie and I would absorb her mood without understanding it. Everything needed to be normal.
She climbed back into bed.
“Everyone OK?” Dad said.
“So far.”
They lay still, eyes closed and ears open. Another few cars gunned by. In the distance, the bleating of car horns sounded. And gunfire. The night wore on.
As dawn made its tentative advance, they heard a whispered sound like prairie grass in the summer wind. It grew steadily louder. They crept to the living room window and peered through the glass slats and metal bars. Out of the fading night, a parade of men and women shuffled by, their passage marked by the soft whoosh whoosh of the alpargata slippers worn by the people that lived in the shacks up the hill. It was like the Easter processionals, only instead of the statue of a saint, each person carried a chair, or a television, or a file cabinet.
“Looters,” my father said. “They’ve broken into the police station.”
This was way more than my mother had signed up for.
