Features

St. Anthony Stole Fire from Hell: A Festival at a Sardinian Village

Published

1 year ago

2024/12/15

Thilina Walpola

Sardinian village

by Jayantha Perera

Shyamala (my wife) and I arrived at Cagliari Airport in Sardinia with several friends from Rome to participate in a writers’ workshop in Galteli, a remote Sardinian village. It was mid-January, and It was a sunny and warm afternoon. The sky was blue, and sun rays penetrated the airport’s thick, tall glass panes, warming us. The distant craggy mountains displayed their naked limestone spikes, occasionally releasing a glint. The dusty horizon looked distant, blurring the contours between the dry, flat land and disappearing grey mountains. Large concrete structures dominated the immediate landscape of the airport. They were engulfed in a mess of tentacles of the ring road. Still, a disciplined traffic movement emerged from the chaos. The landscape of Sardinia, with its rugged mountains, flat lands, and distant horizons, was a sight to behold.

Someone announced we should go to the green bus about 200 meters from the Arrivals building. An Italian who spoke English volunteered to fetch the driver. We applauded when the bus driver returned. He was a podgy man with very little hair on his head. His clothes were too tight and crumpled. He looked like a man who already had a few pints of beer. He packed our bags into the bus belly in five minutes and asked us to get in.

The bus left the airport at 3.45 pm. It was a glorious afternoon with the golden sun just setting after warming all of us. The dry, flat, distant landscape suddenly took a new look, bathed in warm golden sun rays. The journey was smooth, and there were hardly any other vehicles on the winding road. The immediate flat land with distant hills and mountain ranges on the horizon started to display their land use patterns. By the road was a grazing land with hundreds of sheep and cows, and at another place was a large village with well-maintained gardens and orchards. There was open land dotted with ancient Roman ruins, dry riverbeds, and medieval churches with beautiful domes in a few places. The rapidly setting winter sun added charm to the landscape through the lengthening shadows of houses, trees, and churches, especially their spires. The journey looked never-ending with the rapid sunset.

The bus arrived at Galtelli village after sunset. A young woman in a skirt and tee shirt got onto the bus, read 10 names, and waited until 10 people showed their raised hands. She already looked harassed. She advised the ten men to get down and collect their luggage from the bus belly. It was already dark, so it was challenging to identify the luggage. The second bus stop was on the main road. As if they had learned from the first group, another 10 exited the bus soon after the roll call, collected their baggage, and vanished into the darkness with an assistant. The third and final group arrived at an empty bus stop at Sa. Cantina. When we got down from the bus, darkness and cold engulfed us. Andrea, the manager of Antico Borgo Hotel, was at the bus stop. Some confusion arose from the name list, as some writers who had planned to stay together during the workshop were separated by that time. After a 10-minute discussion, local organisers’ plans prevailed. The dejected ones picked up their baggage and followed Andrea.

Andrea was in a hurry. After walking uphill for about five minutes, several writers complained they could no longer carry their bags. Andrea ignored them and continued uphill. The climb was steep on cobbled streets. It was tough to pull suitcases and walk uphill. Shyamala and I found it challenging to keep pace with Andrea, especially after one of my bags lost two wheels on the rough, cobbled streets. I told Andrea several guests needed help to carry their bags to the hotel. He said, “First things first”, and moved on.

The final climb was from a church piazza (public square) to the Antico Borgo Hotel at #7 of Via Sassari. There was a great gasp of relief when we saw the large gate of the Antico Borgo Hotel. The hotel, a charming establishment with a rich history, was a welcome sight after the long journey. Andrea opened the visitors’ gate, led us into the courtyard, and disappeared. Some collapsed into the wicker chairs in the hotel’s foyer and demanded a stiff drink to recover. We were freezing in the foyer, waiting for Andrea. He returned after 30 minutes, ready to assist us with our check-in.

Shyamala and I got a room on the ground floor. The room was a part of the original building, dating back to the 16^th century. The roof had wild tree trunks as rafters, and the uneven ceiling was covered with lime and clay. The room was dark, damp, and smelly. It had no windows. There were six steel-framed beds, although we had requested a room with one double bed. One bed, however, had fresh bed sheets, pillows, folded blankets, two large towels, and several hand towels.

D H Lawrence’s description of winter in Sardinia in his ‘Sea and Sardinia’ aptly described our plight at the guest house. “The room – in fact, the whole Sardinia – was stone cold, stone, stone cold. Outside, the earth is freezing. Inside, there was no thought of any sort of warmth: dungeon stone floors, dungeon stone walls, and a dead corpse-like atmosphere, too heavy and icy to move.”

There was a wooden closet at the back of the room. The bookshelf by the toilet was covered with dust, and the few books and pamphlets on its bottom were wet and soggy. The coffee machine was on a rickety table by our bed. There was a small fridge, and a 12″ TV was on it.

The bathroom was wet and freezing cold despite running hot water. The shower stall needed to be wider for a person to stand.

Within minutes, Shyamala found breathing difficult, as the room was stale, wet, and musty. She caught Andrea in the courtyard and asked for an extra heater to warm the room and a dehumidifier to clear the air. We were glad to spend a few minutes under the two blankets to recover before dinner at a restaurant about 600 meters from Borgo. Hot soup and a steak revived our mood. When we returned, the room had two dehumidifiers and two extra heaters, and we felt cosy and warm.

We got up early the following day; the room was warm, and the air was much cleaner than the previous evening. The coffee machine worked perfectly. We dressed, crossed the courtyard, and climbed a few steps to the open restaurant with a large heater that kept the area warm. The breakfast spread was impressive – many types of cured fish and meat with olives and cheeses. The heater broke down within minutes, and we had breakfast as we shivered in the cold. Andrea arranged a few electric heaters to keep at least our feet warm and provided an unlimited number of hot cappuccinos to keep us warm.

After breakfast, we walked around the cobblestone streets, absorbing the breathtaking view. The sun shone, and roads were dry after the previous night’s rain. Galtelli village was on a low hill ledge of the mighty Tuttuvista Mountain that rose steeply behind it. The village spread downwards along winding, silent, and narrow cobblestone streets to the national S 129 highway. The limestone mountain, its environs, well-kept whitewashed houses, and beautiful medieval churches with their belfries wiped out our complaints. We learned that Grazia Deledda, the Nobel Prize winner for literature in the 1930s and who wrote ‘Reeds in the Wind,’ had lived in Galtelli for several short spells in the 1920s and 1930s.

Lunch was served around 1 pm in the hotel’s courtyard. It consisted of salads, cold cuts, canned fish, wild rice, bread, olives, and pickles. The sun and warmth in the courtyard encouraged discussions and debates among guests. Small groups spread over the courtyard, steps, and balconies as they enjoyed the food, the sun, wine, and coffee. There were no other tasks other than a siesta in the afternoon.

Andrea studied hotel management in the US and developed a peculiar English accent. He was also the manager of two other small hotels. He arranged transport and guided tours for guests. A popular trip was to climb Tuttavista to see Statua Bronzea del Christo (a bronze statue of Christ) and Sa Pedra Istampada (St Peter’s viewing point). He sometimes acted as a middleman when guests had merchandise to sell.

Once, when Andrea was alone in his office, I asked him for the best time to visit Sardinia. That question baffled him; he said, “Sardinia is special in any season.” He did not like my suggestion that Sardinian culture is a sub-Italian culture. He said, “Sardinia is a part of Italy, but not Italy.” Then he told me, “When God created paradise, he actually created Sardinia.”

In mid-January, the village celebrates the Fiesta di Sant’Antonio Abate (the Feast of Saint Anthony, the Abbot). St. Anthony is also known as Saint Anthony the Great, Saint Anthony of Padua, the Egyptian Saint, and the patron saint of butchers, domestic animals, basket makers, and gravediggers. He also protects people against skin diseases, especially shingles, known as Fuoco di Sant’Antonio (Fire of St. Anthony).

St. Anthony, the hermit, renounced worldly possessions, followed the word of Jesus, performed miracles, and helped ordinary folks. He was the first hermit to live a genuinely monastic lifestyle. The devil repeatedly tempted him to break his vows, but he persevered through sincere prayers and meditation. St. Anthony is often portrayed in images with the devil at his feet. A legend claims he went to hell to steal the devil’s fire. While he distracted the devil, his pet piglet ran in and brought a piece of burning coal from the fireplace.

The Galtelli people eagerly await the feast of Sant’Antonio stealing fire from hell. The centre of the celebration is a majestic bonfire to warm up the cold evening. This ancient ritual brings the entire village community together.

St Anthony’s Cathedral in Galtelli celebrated the festival with gusto. Young men and women decorated the church, its approach path, and the main road. A few days before the festival, villagers combed nearby mountains and valleys to gather wet grass and tree branches. Some brought small loads of wood and ferns from the nearby riverbed; others drove their pickups to transport lumber from the slopes of the Tuttavista mountain.

Those who brought grass, timber, and tree branches piled them into a pyramid in the middle of the village playground and left the heap to settle and dry. A few days before the festival, women baked cocconeddos and pistiddu, thick biscuits with dough filled with cooked wine. The festival committee planned a convivial dinner for church leaders and music groups. Mr Antonio, the Galtelli’s brewer and wine seller, promised to deliver countless gallons of wine to serve devotees.

The church service began at 3.30 p.m. A local group sang in ancient Sard (the local dialect), adding an aura to the service. They were all men. One was a very old man and could hardly stand. A young man replaced him occasionally, and the old man was happy to be a part of the choir. All young girls and boys in the village attended the service, and their murmurings were loud enough to mask what the priest said. People were happy because the day was sunny and bright.

A sharing moment between the sacred and the profane arose after the church service. We all walked in silence to the playground, where the pyramid awaited. On the way, women distributed coconeddos and pistiddu to devotees. The priest who celebrated the service arrived first at the playground. He blessed the pyramid and waited until the entire community and visitors gathered around it. Two young men walked around the monument three times with torches, keeping their left shoulder towards the pyramid while the priest chanted prayers. Then, the priest sprinkled holy water on the pyramid. The two men set fire to the bonfire’s core, and in a few seconds, the mighty blaze was sending hot flames in all directions. Visitors inhaled the pleasant smell of burning myrtle branches and eucalyptus leaves. The lengthening shadow of Mount Tuttavista slowly engulfed all of us. The sunset threw a glorious hue over the burning bonfire.

Young men distributed new wine in plastic cups. Refills came very fast, and refusing new wine was considered a sin. The wine god, Bacchus, stood beside the bonfire and brought boozy blessings to all. Cauldrons filled with boiling pig lard with broad beans were brought in. People fell in line to get food as a few middle-aged women controlled the crowd. Some devotees pensively watched and counted the images drawn by the bonfire in the heavy smoke. They tried to tally them with premonitions, prophecies and wishes for the New Year.

Shyamala and I had enough fresh wine for the day and wanted to return to our guesthouse. It was difficult to leave the ground as everyone wanted to talk to us. Shyamala talked to some of them in Italian, and they were thrilled to discuss our thoughts on the festival. Shyamala, meanwhile, told me the priest had flirty eye contact with her; I thought he was tipsy. The priest spoke a little English and smoked cigars non-stop. His potbelly hinted that he drank a lot of wine. The priest was a short and fat fellow with no hair on his head and wore a tight pair of blue jeans and a short-sleeved checked shirt. He sported his cell phone in his back jeans pocket and regularly checked it for messages.

Two days later, someone suggested that Antonio bring 40 bottles of new wine to the guesthouse to sell to the guests. Antonio arrived at the guesthouse later that night with his German girlfriend in his double cab van. Nobody showed any interest in Antonio’s wine. Antonio did not know what had gone wrong with his wine the previous day – the wine tasted like vinegar. Still, one consolation was that St. Vincent Saragossa was the patron saint of wine brewers and vinegar producers. If St. Vincent felt belittled by St. Anthony after the bonfire, Antonio could brew another batch of fresh wines in the name of St. Vincent. After all, in Galtelli, there is ample time and space for new traditions to emerge and new friendships to forge.

We left Galtelli after staying eight days at Andrea’s guesthouse. After helping him load bags, Shyamala and I joined him in going to Sa. Cantina to catch the airport bus. He drove like a maniac at breakneck speed. He negotiated elbow corners at high speed on narrow and slippery cobbled streets. He smiled and reassured us that he knew Galtelli roads well and that his guardian angel would protect him. I wanted to ask him who would protect us. When we reached Sa. Cantina, he quickly unloaded suitcases, ignored the heavy rain, and drove back to bring more guests after waving at us and sending a flying kiss.

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Features

Counting cats, naming giants: Inside the unofficial science redefining Sri Lanka’s Leopards and Tuskers

Published

18 hours ago

2026/01/12

Thilina Walpola

For decades, Sri Lanka’s leopard numbers have been debated, estimated, and contested, often based on assumptions few outside academic circles ever questioned.

One of the most fundamental was that a leopard’s spots never change. That belief, long accepted as scientific fact, began to unravel not in a laboratory or lecture hall, but through thousands of photographs taken patiently in the wilds of Yala. At the centre of that quiet disruption stands Milinda Wattegedara.

Sri Lanka’s wilderness has always inspired photographers. Far fewer, however, have transformed photography into a data-driven challenge to established conservation science. Wattegedara—an MBA graduate by training and a wildlife researcher by pursuit—has done precisely that, building one of the most comprehensive independent identification databases of leopards and tuskers in the country.

“I consider myself privileged to have been born and raised in Sri Lanka,” Wattegedara says. “This island is extraordinary in its biodiversity. But admiration alone doesn’t protect wildlife. Accuracy does.”

Raised in Kandy, and educated at Kingswood College, where he captained cricket teams, up to the First XI, Wattegedara’s early years were shaped by discipline and long hours of practice—traits that would later define his approach to field research.

Though his formal education culminated in a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Cardiff Metropolitan University, his professional life gradually shifted toward Sri Lanka’s forests, grasslands, and coastal fringes.

From childhood, two species held his attention: the Sri Lankan leopard and the Asian elephant tusker. Both are icons. Both are elusive. And both, he argues, have been inadequately understood.

His response was methodical. Using high-resolution photography, Wattegedara began documenting individual animals, focusing on repeat sightings, behavioural traits, territorial ranges, and physical markers.

This effort formalised into two platforms—Yala Leopard Diary and Wild Tuskers of Sri Lanka—which function today as tightly moderated research communities rather than casual social media pages.

“My goal was never popularity,” he explains. “It was reliability. Every identification had to stand scrutiny.”

The results are difficult to dismiss. Through collaborative verification and long-term monitoring, his teams have identified over 200 individual leopards across Yala and Kumana National Parks and 280 tuskers across Sri Lanka.

Each animal—whether Jessica YF52 patrolling Mahaseelawa beach or Mahasen T037, the longest tusker bearer recorded in the wild—is catalogued with photographic evidence and movement history.

It was within this growing body of data that a critical inconsistency emerged.

“As injuries accumulated over time, we noticed subtle but consistent changes in rosette and spot patterns,” Wattegedara says. “This directly contradicted the assumption that these markings remain unchanged for life.”

That observation, later corroborated through structured analysis, had serious implications. If leopards were being identified using a limited set of spot references, population estimates risked duplication and inflation.

The findings led to the development of the Multipoint Leopard Identification Method, now internationally published, which uses multiple reference points rather than fixed pattern assumptions. “This wasn’t about academic debate,” Wattegedara notes. “It was about ensuring we weren’t miscounting an endangered species.”

The implications extend beyond Sri Lanka. Overestimated populations can lead to reduced protection, misplaced policy decisions, and weakened conservation urgency.

Yet much of this work has occurred outside formal state institutions.

“There’s a misconception that meaningful research only comes from official channels,” Wattegedara says. “But conservation gaps don’t wait for bureaucracy.”

That philosophy informed his role as co-founder of the Yala Leopard Centre, the world’s first facility dedicated solely to leopard education and identification. The Centre serves as a bridge between researchers, wildlife enthusiasts, and the general public, offering access to verified knowledge rather than speculation.

In a further step toward transparency, Artificial Intelligence has been introduced for automatic leopard identification, freely accessible via the Centre and the Yala Leopard Diary website. “Technology allows consistency,” he explains. “And consistency is everything in long-term studies.”

His work with tuskers mirrors the same precision. From Minneriya to Galgamuwa, Udawalawe to Kala Wewa, Wattegedara has documented generations of bull elephants—Arjuna T008, Kawanthissa T075, Aravinda T112—not merely as photographic subjects, but as individuals with lineage, temperament, and territory.

This depth of observation has also earned him recognition in wildlife photography, including top honours from the Photographic Society of Sri Lanka and accolades from Sanctuary Asia’s Call of the Wild. Still, he is quick to downplay awards.

“Photographs are only valuable if they contribute to understanding,” he says.

Today, Wattegedara’s co-authored identification guides on Yala leopards and Kala Wewa tuskers are increasingly referenced by researchers and field naturalists alike. His work challenges a long-standing divide between citizen science and formal research.

“Wildlife doesn’t care who publishes first,” he reflects. “It only responds to how accurately we observe it.”

In an era when Sri Lanka’s protected areas face mounting pressure—from tourism, infrastructure, and climate stress—the question of who counts wildlife, and how, has never been more urgent.

By insisting on precision, patience, and proof, Milinda Wattegedara has quietly reframed that conversation—one leopard, one tusker, and one verified photograph at a time.

By Ifham Nizam ✍️

Features

AI in Schools: Preparing the Nation for the Next Technological Leap

Published

18 hours ago

2026/01/12

Thilina Walpola

This summary document is based on an exemplary webinar conducted by the Bandaranaike Academy for Leadership & Public Policy ((https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqZGjlaMC08). I participated in the session, which featured multiple speakers with exceptional knowledge and experience who discussed various aspects of incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into the education system and other sectors.

There was strong consensus that this issue must be addressed early, before the nation becomes vulnerable to external actors seeking to exploit AI for their own advantage. Given her educational background, the Education Minister—and the Prime Minister—are likely to be fully aware of this need. This article is intended to support ongoing efforts in educational reform, including the introduction of AI education in schools for those institutions willing to adopt it.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept. Today, it processes vast amounts of global data and makes calculated decisions, often to the benefit of its creators. However, most users remain unaware of the information AI gathers or the extent of its influence on decision-making. Experts warn that without informed and responsible use, nations risk becoming increasingly vulnerable to external forces that may exploit AI.

The Need for Immediate Action

AI is evolving rapidly, leaving traditional educational models struggling to keep pace. By the time new curricula are finalised, they risk becoming outdated, leaving both students and teachers behind. Experts advocate immediate government-led initiatives, including pilot AI education programs in willing schools and nationwide teacher training.

“AI is already with us,” experts note. “We must ensure our nation is on this ‘AI bus’—unlike past technological revolutions, such as IT, microchips, and nanotechnology, which we were slow to embrace.”

Training Teachers and Students

Equipping teachers to introduce AI, at least at the secondary school level, is a crucial first step. AI can enhance creativity, summarise materials, generate lesson plans, provide personalised learning experiences, and even support administrative tasks. Our neighbouring country, India, has already begun this process.

Current data show that student use of AI far exceeds that of instructors—a gap that must be addressed to prevent misuse and educational malpractice. Specialists recommend piloting AI courses as electives, gathering feedback, and continuously refining the curriculum to prepare students for an AI-driven future.

Benefits of AI in Education

AI in schools offers numerous advantages:

· Fosters critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills

· Enhances digital literacy and ethical awareness

· Bridges the digital divide by promoting equitable AI literacy

· Supports interdisciplinary learning in medicine, climate science, and linguistics

· Provides personalised feedback and learning experiences

· Assists students with disabilities through adaptive technologies like text-to-speech and visual recognition

AI can also automate administrative tasks, freeing teachers to focus on student engagement and social-emotional development—a key factor in academic success.

Risks and Challenges

Despite its potential, AI presents challenges:

· Data privacy concerns and misuse of personal information

· Over-reliance on technology, reducing teacher-student interactions

· Algorithmic biases affecting educational outcomes

· Increased opportunities for academic dishonesty if assessments rely on rote memorisation

Experts emphasise understanding these risks to ensure the responsible and ethical use of AI.

Global and Local Perspectives

In India, the Central Board of Secondary Education plans to introduce AI and computational thinking from Grades 3 to 12 by 2026. Sri Lanka faces a similar challenge. Many university students and academics already rely on AI, highlighting the urgent need for a structured yet rapidly evolving national curriculum that incorporates AI responsibly.

The Way Forward

Experts urge swift action:

· Launch pilot programs in select schools immediately.

· Provide teacher training and seed funding to participating educational institutions.

· Engage universities to develop short AI and innovation training programs.

“Waiting for others to lead risks leaving us behind,” experts warn. “It’s time to embrace AI thoughtfully, responsibly, and inclusively—ensuring the whole nation benefits from its opportunities.”

As AI reshapes our world, introducing it in schools is not merely an educational initiative—it is a national imperative.

BY Chula Goonasekera ✍️
on behalf of LEADS forum admin@srilankaleads.com

Features

The Paradox of Trump Power: Contested Authoritarian at Home, Uncontested Bully Abroad

Published

2 days ago

2026/01/11

Thilina Walpola

Protests and a vigil have been held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the shooting of Renee Nicole Good occurred on Wednesday (photo courtesy BBC)

The Trump paradox is easily explained at one level. The US President unleashes American superpower and tariff power abroad with impunity and without contestation. But he cannot exercise unconstitutional executive power including tariff power without checks and challenges within America. No American President after World War II has exercised his authority overseas so brazenly and without any congressional referral as Donald Trump is getting accustomed to doing now. And no American President in history has benefited from a pliant Congress and an equally pliant Supreme Court as has Donald Trump in his second term as president.

Yet he is not having his way in his own country the way he is bullying around the world. People are out on the streets protesting against the wannabe king. This week’s killing of 37 year old Renee Good by immigration agents in Minneapolis has brought the City to its edge five years after the police killing of George Floyd. The lower courts are checking the president relentlessly in spite of the Supreme Court, if not in defiance of it. There are cracks in the Trump’s MAGA world, disillusioned by his neglect of the economy and his costly distractions overseas. His ratings are slowly but surely falling. And in an electoral harbinger, New York has elected as its new mayor, Zoran Mamdani – a wholesale antithesis of Donald Trump you can ever find.

Outside America it is a different picture. The world is too divided and too cautious to stand up to Trump as he recklessly dismantles the very world order that his predecessors have been assiduously imposing on the world for nearly a hundred years. A few recent events dramatically illustrate the Trump paradox – his constraints at home and his freewheeling abroad.

Restive America

Two days before Christmas, the US Supreme Court delivered a rare rebuke to the Trump Administration. After a host of rulings that favoured Trump by putting on hold, without full hearing, lower court strictures against the Administration, the Supreme Court by a 6-3 majority decided to leave in place a Federal Court ruling that barred Trump from deploying National Guard troops in Chicago. Trump quietly raised the white flag and before Christmas withdrew the federal troops he had controversially deployed in Chicago, Portland and Los Angeles – all large cities run by Democrats.

But three days after the New Year, Trump airlifted the might of the US Army to encircle Venezuela’s capital Caracas and spirit away the country’s President Nicolás Maduro, and his wife Celia Flores, all the way to New York to stand trial in an American Court. What is not permissible in any American City was carried out with absolute impunity in a foreign capital. It turns out the Administration has no plan for Venezuela after taking out Maduro, other than Trump’s cavalier assertion, “We’re going to run it, essentially.” Essentially, the Trump Administration has let Maduro’s regime without Maduro to run the country but with the US in total control of Venezuela’s oil.

Next on the brazen list is Greenland, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio who manipulated Maduro’s ouster is off to Copenhagen for discussions with the Danish government over the future of Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark. Military option is not off the table if a simple real estate purchase or a treaty arrangement were to prove infeasible or too complicated. That is the American position as it is now customarily announced from the White House podium by the Administration’s Press Secretary Karolyn Leavitt, a 28 year old Catholic woman from New Hampshire, who reportedly conducts a team prayer for divine help before appearing at the lectern to lecture.

After the Supreme Court ruling and the Venezuela adventure, the third US development relevant to my argument is the shooting and killing of a 37 year old white American woman by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis, at 9:30 in the morning, Wednesday, January 7^th. Immediately, the Administration went into pre-emptive attack mode calling the victim a “deranged leftist” and a “domestic terrorist,” and asserting that the ICE officer was acting in self-defense. That line and the description are contrary to what many people know of the victim, as well as what people saw and captured on their phones and cameras.

The victim, Renee Nicole Good, was a mother of three and a prize-winning poet who self-described herself a “poet, writer, wife and mom.” A newcomer to Minneapolis from Colorado, she was active in the community and was a designated “legal observer of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities,” to monitor interactions between ICE agents and civilian protesters that have become the norm in large immigrant cities in America. Renee Good was at the scene in her vehicle to observe ICE operations and community protesters.

In video postings that last a matter of nine seconds, two ICE officers are seen approaching Good’s vehicle and one of them trying to open her door; a bystander is heard screaming “No” as Good is seen trying to drive away; and a third ICE officer is seen standing in front of her moving vehicle, firing twice in the direction of the driver, moving to a side and firing a third time from the side. Good’s car is seen going out of control, careening and coming to a stop on a snowbank. Yet America is being bombarded with two irreconcilable narratives – one manufactured by Trump’s Administration and the other by those at the scene and everyone opposed to the regime.

It adds to the explosiveness of the situation that Good was shot and killed not far from where George Folyd was killed, also in Minneapolis, on 25^th May, 2020, choked under the knee of a heartless policeman. And within 48 hours of Good’s killing, two Americans were shot and injured by two federal immigration agents, in Portland, Oregon, on the Westcoast. Trump’s attack on immigrants and the highhanded methods used by ICE agents have become the biggest flashpoint in the political opposition to the Trump presidency. People are organizing protests in places where ICE agents are apprehending immigrants because those who are being aggressively and violently apprehended have long been neighbours, colleagues, small business owners and students in their communities.

Deportation of illegal immigrants is not something that began under Trump. It has been going on in large numbers under all recent presidents including Obama and Biden. But it has never been so cruel and vicious as it is now under Trump. He has turned it into a television spectacle and hired large number of new ICE agents who are politically prejudiced and deployed them without proper training. They raid private homes and public buildings, including schools, looking for immigrants. When faced with protesters they get into clashes rather than deescalating the situation as professional police are trained to do. There is also the fear that the Administration may want to escalate confrontations with protesters to create a pretext for declaring martial law and disrupt the midterm congressional elections in November this year.

But the momentum that Trump was enjoying when he began his second term and started imposing his executive authority, has all but vanished and all within just one year in office. By the time this piece appears in print, the Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s tariffs (expected on Friday) may be out, and if as expected the ruling goes against Trump that will be a massive body blow to the Administration. Trump will of course use a negative court ruling as the reason for all the economic woes under his presidency, but by then even more Americans would have become tired of his perpetually recycled lies and boasts.

An Obliging World

To get back to my starting argument, it is in this increasingly hostile domestic backdrop that Trump has started looking abroad to assert his power without facing any resistance. And the world is obliging. The western leaders in Europe, Canada and Australia are like the three wise monkeys who will see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil – of anything that Trump does or fails to do. Their biggest fear is about the Trump tariffs – that if they say anything critical of Trump he will magnify the tariffs against their exports to the US. That is an understandable concern and it would be interesting to see if anything will change if the US Supreme Court were to rule against Trump and reject his tariff powers.

Outside the West, and with the exception of China, there is no other country that can stand up to Trump’s bullying and erratic wielding of power. They are also not in a position to oppose Trump and face increased tariffs on their exports to the US. Putin is in his own space and appears to be assured that Trump will not hurt him for whatever reason – and there are many of them, real and speculative. The case of the Latin American countries is different as they are part of the Western Hemisphere, where Trump believes he is monarch of all he surveys.

After more than a hundred years of despising America, many communities, not just regimes, in the region seem to be warming up to Trump. The timing of Trump’s sequestering of Venezuela is coinciding with a rising right wing wave and regime change in the region. An October opinion poll showed 53% of Latin American respondents reacting positively to a then potential US intervention in Venezuela while only 18% of US respondents were in favour of intervention. While there were condemnations by Latin American left leaders, seven Latin American countries with right wing governments gave full throated support to Trump’s ouster of Maduro.

The reasons are not difficult to see. The spread of crime induced by the commerce of cocaine has become the number one concern for most Latin Americans. The socio-religious backdrop to this is the evangelisation of Christianity at the expense of the traditional Catholic Church throughout Latin America. And taking a leaf from Trump, Latin Americans have also embraced the bogey of immigration, mainly influenced by the influx of Venezuelans fleeing in large numbers to escape the horrors of the Maduro regime.

But the current changes in Latin America are not necessarily indicative of a durable ideological shift. The traditional left’s base in the subcontinent is still robust and the recent regime changes are perhaps more due to incumbency fatigue than shifts in political orientations. The left has been in power for the greater part of this century and has not been able to provide answers to the real questions that preoccupied the people – economic affordability, crime and cocaine. It has not been electorally smart for the left to ignore the basic questions of the people and focus on grand projects for the intelligentsia. Exhibit #1 is the grand constitutional project in Chile under outgoing President Gabriel Borich, but it is not the only one. More romantic than realistic, Boric’s project titillated liberal constitutionalists the world over, but was roundly rejected by Chileans.

More importantly, and sooner than later, Trump’s intervention in Venezuela and his intended takeover of the country’s oil business will produce lasting backlashes, once the initial right wing euphoria starts subsiding. Apart from the bully force of Trump’s personality, the mastermind behind the intervention in Venezuela and policy approach towards Latin America in general, is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the former Cuban American Senator from Florida and the principal leader of the group of Cuban neocons in the US. His ultimate objective is said to be achieving regime change in Cuba – apparently a psychological settling of scores on behalf Cuban Americans who have been dead set against Castro’s Cuba after the overthrow of their beloved Batista.

Mr. Rubio is American born and his parents had left Cuba years before Fidel Castro displaced Fulgencio Batista, but the family stories he apparently grew up hearing in Florida have been a large part of his self-acknowledged political makeup. Even so, Secretary Rubio could never have foreseen a situation such as an externally uncontested Trump presidency in which he would be able to play an exceptionally influential role in shaping American policy for Latin America. But as the old Burns’ poem rhymes, “The best-laid plans of men and mice often go awry.”

by Rajan Philips ✍️