By Sofia Villa
Sep 20, 2024, 04:03 AM EDT
Most of us who came to the United States did so fleeing corruption and, above all, fed up with assassinations caused by political violence. And now we are in the midst of the anxiety of seeing the attacks repeat themselves, threatening democracy.
That dark shadow looms over the presidential elections on November 5, when Donald Trump hopes to win his revenge and take the White House from the Democratic Party.
In a recent analysis by NPR, following the second attack against the Republican candidate, experts from the University of Maryland and the “Consortium for the Study and Response to Terrorism, Start Center” warned that political violence, this violent trend, intensified between 2015 and 2016, just when Trump consolidated his presence on the nation’s political scene.
In countries like Colombia, for years, journalists spent hours covering the funerals of political leaders, union leaders, or government ministers, and now seeing the threat of more assassination attempts here in the United States is something that Hispanics should reject, regardless of who the attackers’ target is.
No death by gun is justifiable and we should clearly express our disagreement. These attacks are senseless. Let us remember that good politicians are rewarded with support at the polls, while bad and corrupt leaders can be punished with a conscious vote.
This wave, as we mentioned, causes us anguish and concern, because July 13, 2024 will go down in history as the shots to Trump’s ear in Butler, Pennsylvania.
We thought it was an isolated case, but no! This week, the FBI captured Ryan Routh, when he was supposedly trying to shoot the former president at his paradisiacal Mar-a-Lago golf course in Florida.
Although the shooter is a native of the United States, the attack occurred after Trump’s claim that immigrants eat pets like dogs and cats went viral; and worse still, his vice presidential running mate, JC Vance, said on FOX that they made up this story so that the press would take them into account.
The theory is quite debatable, as it sends the wrong message and could shoot the Republican campaign in the foot.
In conclusion, we already know the terrible consequences of resolving political differences with bullets. That is why we, the citizens, are going to vote for the best proposal for the nation that adopted us. And in this way we say a resounding NO to the armed violence that left hundreds of leaders under the grave and our countries without leaders who can get them out of the mess we escaped from.
As an author, Sofia Villa writes this column in a personal capacity and her opinions do not represent any of the companies where she works.