The Reaction of Latin Americans and Hispanics to Death of George Floyd

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The death of African-American George Floyd during a police intervention in the US city of Minneapolis caused bewilderment and anger in Latin America and in the US Latino community alike.

Several well-known leftist politicians in Latin America and the Caribbean voiced harsh criticism of the US government and its affiliated organizations. The structural problems of the American continent’s political and economic system were also noted by many in the region.

On May 25th, Floyd died in Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota after being publicly pinned down and suffocated on the street by a white policeman. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets throughout the USA against racist violence and President Donald Trump.

Left-wing Evo Morales, the former President of Bolivia (2006-2019),  attacked the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, on Twitter. According to Morales, who was ousted from office  last November after fraudulent elections, Almagro was wrapped in an “accomplice-like silence” after the “horrible murder of George Floyd”. “If such a crime had been committed in a country that did not adhere to Washington’s plans, we would have heard his denouncing speeches immediately,” Morales continued. He accused the OAS leader of “limitless hypocrisy”.

Colombian politician and activist attorney Piedad Córdoba also asked on Twitter: “Has [Colombia’s] President [Iván] Duque, who is so vehement in human rights issues against neighboring states, already condemned what is happening in the United States?”

Ecuador’s leftist ex-President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) also referred to the differing assessments of social issues. The US is in turmoil, after a week of demonstrations in 80 US cities with looting, fires “and, unfortunately, three dead”. In Ecuador, 100,000 people took to the streets in the capital Quito last October under the current government, leaving eleven dead, 1,300 injured and 1,200 imprisoned, according to Correa.

Two major NGOs in the USA that assist Latinos and their families in actively defending their interests, have published an appeal in which they declare their solidarity with African-American communities. Communities Organizing Latinx Power and Action (COPAL) and Alianza Americas call for the “immediate arrest of all police officers involved to ensure the investigation is successful”. However, both organizations also denounce a structural aspect of the recent violence against an African-American individual.

“Violence based on an ideology of superiority manifests itself in the denial of opportunities in health, education, immigration rights, and lack of economic investment in colored communities,” said COPAL’s executive director, Francisco Segovia.

The internationally renowned Marxist Argentinean sociologist and political scientist Atilio Borón also pointed out structural issues in relation to Floyd’s case. For instance, the Covid-19 death rate in the USA averages 322 per million people, 227 among whites and 546 among blacks, the activist wrote on his Twitter above a graph linking current police violence with the racist Ku Klux Klan.

One of the few statements by current political leaders comes from Cuba. The Foreign Minister of the Socialist Republic, Bruno Rodríguez, posted the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter: “George Floyd did not ‘die’. He was brutally murdered. Unfortunately for African-Americans, this is a story that is only too familiar. He was unarmed and shouting, ‘I can’t breathe’ but that was not enough to stop the injustice”.

Argentine President Alberto Fernández said on Tuesday that the protests against racism and police violence in the United States were the result of “inequality”.

The government of Costa Rica sent “a message of solidarity to the African-American community in light of the cruel murder of citizen George Floyd,” which was a “blow to the highest values in a democratic society,” according to a statement by the government council. It expressed its support for those who “consistently break the silence” in order to achieve the right to a dignified life free from threats and discrimination.

The Cuba-based think tank “Centro de Investigaciones de Política Internacional” (CIPI) is collecting Latin American comments on its Twitter account, as well as film documents and current information on US troop movements which could, in theory, target the people protesting in major cities.

In Rio de Janeiro, people protested on Sunday outside the Guanabara Palace, the State Governor’s official residence. When the crowd began chanting “I Can’t Breathe” to also protest against police brutality in Brazil, police in riot gear dispersed the crowd. In São Paulo, the financial center of Brazil, demonstrators against President Jair Bolsonaro expressed solidarity with the protests in the USA.

Pictures of Floyd were hung on the fence of the US Embassy in Mexico City, next to flowers, candles, and posters that read “Racism kills, here, there and everywhere in the world”.

A crowd gathered in downtown Buenos Aires and marched to the US Chamber of Commerce to support the protests in the US. They carried posters reading “Justice for George Floyd” and chanted slogans against US President Donald Trump.