“I remember, that statues of Christopher Columbus being knocked down. After that, the street names changed, not all of them, but quite a few of them,” Rogliani said. “They changed the name of the national park in Caracas … to something more indigenous. They changed the flag of our country; they also changed the name. They dismantled our police in 2001 and put in place a new one. They changed our voting system, so the way we voted changed.”
“Why am I worried about statues coming down in the United States?” Rogliani continued. “It’s because I am seeing the same pattern repeat. And I’m not speaking to this as an expert at U.S. politics and U.S. history, but I can recognize the signs, and these are not isolated incidents. I’ve been hearing from people from Cuba, people that left Soviet countries, that they feel the same thing is repeating. … And the attack on history, by first going after those symbols was the first way to do it.”