Donald Trump, Gaza, and the Killing Verb: A Column from the Puerto Rican Conscience

 

Toa Baja, Puerto Rico - Opinion Column 

By: Francisco El Jimagua Cartagena Méndez

Writer, Human Rights Activist

notidigitalpuertorico@gmail.com 

Donald Trump is not just a president. He is a symbol of 21st-century totalitarianism, a wounding verb, a threat disguised as leadership. His return to power in the United States (something that should never have happened) does not represent a mere political alternation: it marks the resurgence of a dangerous, racist, imperialist, and deeply dehumanizing narrative. From his first term, Trump has legitimized hate speech, attacked fundamental rights, and turned U.S. foreign policy into an instrument of global oppression.

His complicity in the genocide in Gaza is undeniable. Although he recently hinted that Israel might “lose support” if it insists on annexing the West Bank, his record reveals a deep alliance with Netanyahu’s government—even during the bloodiest moments of the conflict. While thousands of Palestinian civilians were being killed, Trump staunchly defended the Israeli offensive, ignoring international law and human dignity.
His current ambiguity does not erase his historical responsibility.

“Humanity in danger: when power speaks like Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu”
— A global alert on the oppressive totalitarian discourse and its consequences.

I am haunted by questions that demand answers:

• How has the systematic, daily, inhumane, and cruel bombing of a defenseless, innocent people been allowed?
• How can such an affront to the right to life and human dignity be repaired?
• Is religion to blame?
• Or is it the madness of a few, sustained by the complicity — and silence — of the International Community?

Leaders who speak out

I applaud those who have had the courage to denounce Trump:

• Pedro Sánchez, president of Spain, has demanded justice in Gaza and opposed U.S. control over Palestinian territories.
• Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, banned by Trump from the peace summit for his firm defense of Palestine.
• Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France Insoumise, has called the actions of Trump and Israel war crimes.
• Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, has publicly rejected Trump’s plan for Gaza.
• Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, president of Turkey, has demanded that Trump stop Israel and warned of the consequences.

They understand that peace cannot be negotiated with those who glorify war.
Their voices are ethical beacons in a world that needs courage, not complicity.

And from Puerto Rico, we raise our voice.
We are not a land of war. We are not a military base. We are a joyful country, culturally defined, with jíbaro, Taíno, and Afro-Caribbean roots that celebrate life, not death. 

Militarizing our island would be an act of violence against our identity. We refuse to be pawns in the geopolitical games of megalomaniac leaders. Puerto Rico is peace, is culture, is music, is art, is dignified resistance.

Humanity is in danger.  Not because of weapons, but because of words. Because of the oppressive, far-right, reckless rhetoric of leaders like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Benjamin Netanyahu. We cannot normalize their violence. We cannot remain silent before their power. Because if silence prevails, history repeats itself.