In the least dark corner

ARTICLE

IN THE LEAST DARK CORNER

BY: JULIO A. LARRAMENDI

About the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

It is almost nine o'clock on a morning in a still hot September in Havana. It is Tuesday and the days have already taken their course after a weekend with all my children telling me about their first classes and occupations, about new and old friends: Eric, 10 years old and worried about the very close vaccinations; Claudia, 11, with her illusion for ballet; Paola, 13, already in high school and enjoying her next outing for school in the country, and Davel, 25 and already a university graduate and waiting for his first daughter and my first granddaughter.

Since yesterday we began work on a new book, 500 Years of Architecture in Cuban Society, which promises to take a look at the best that has been built over five centuries throughout Cuba. As I prepare the first batch of coffee of the day, my good friend Aldo Vega calls me to turn on the television. Something extraordinary has happened in New York.

The television stations broadcast over and over again the impact of an airplane against the North Tower of the World Trade Center, one of the emblematic buildings of that mythical city. Accident? A few minutes later, televised to millions of people around the world, a second plane hits the second tower and there is no longer any doubt: it is a terrorist attack on the symbolic city of the almighty United States of America.

The fire in the two buildings is broadcast live, the chilling leap of some people trapped on the upper floors consumed by flames, the effort and sacrifice of firefighters and lifeguards and, finally, over the course of two hours, the consecutive collapse of both towers, filling with dust and fright to a city that never expected something like this. A third plane is reported to have hit the Pentagon and a fourth, targeting the United States Capitol in Washington D.C., crashed in Pennsylvania as passengers and crew fought the hijackers. The horror of the images would reach everyone.

The tragic balance of the attacks was 2,996 victims, including the 19 terrorists who carried out the kidnappings, 24 disappeared and nearly 25,000 injured. Spiritually, the heart attack in the United States showed that nothing and no one was safe and that terrorism could reach everyone. Politically, along with the condemnation of the United Nations and all governments, President George W. Bush announced the war against terrorism, promised to spread "the fire of freedom" to any "dark corner of the world." Less than a month later, the invasion of Afghanistan began, a country that had given shelter and support to Al Qaeda. Twenty years after that fateful day, with the hasty withdrawal of its troops, the United States allowed the Taliban to once again control the entire territory, without encountering any resistance.

 At Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers collapsed, a plaza was built with two gigantic fountains that commemorate those who lost their lives in the attack and are part of the 9/11 National Monument and Museum in New York, where They hoard more than 70,000 objects that tell the stories of the victims, rescue teams and survivors.

Every day thousands of people come to the place and silently walk the perimeter where, sculpted in black granite are the names of the dead of that day, together with small offerings from their loved ones.

PHOTOS

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