Lira's death exposes government betrayal
Julian Assange and Gonzalo Lira’s lives have been full of controversy - it depends if you view the pursuit of freedom of speech and truth as controversial.
Their lives are equally similar as they are dissimilar – paths of almost an identical nature, except Lira is now dead, and Assange remains imprisoned without charges in the UK’s high security Belmarsh jail - rotting as he has done for the past five years, as he staves off attempts of extradition to the US.
Hunted by the US for the past 14-years, if the US are successful in extraditing him, Assange is as sure as dead.
There’s a poignant message to be served by the death of Gonzalo Lira and the imprisonment of Julian Assange – their governments turned their backs on them.
Australian and US have done nothing to protect their own, instead opting to cut the umbilical chord that ties them as citizens to their countries and repatriate them back home.
Both are victims for exposing the lies and corruption perpetrated by government – Lira paid the ultimate price, whereas Assange could meet a similar fate.
The message is simple as it is complex, Australia and US cannot be trusted to protect their citizens abroad.
There wouldn’t be a person alive today, who wouldn’t know of Assange and his plight for exposing war crimes the US government has consistently committed.
However, Lira does not share Assange’s high profile. His legacy is growing.
The Chilean American journalist-filmmaker, known for his commentary on the conflict in Ukraine, died in a Ukrainian prison on January 11, 2024.
Lira’s story is fascinating as it is sad.
Arrested in May last year on charges of "production and dissemination of materials justifying Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, Lira’s plight gained international attention, when Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson called for his release.
What became clear to the world and people following Lira’s plight, is he was on borrowed time.
A final bid attempt in July 2023, to flee Ukraine and seek political asylum in Hungary, - with only five kilometres from Hungary’s border, Lira was captured - subsequently dying in suspicious circumstances at the hands of Zelenskyy’s regime.
A final video posted on social media in July 2023, by Lira shortly before his capture where freedom was
in sight, was the last the world would hear from him.
Lira, knew, if captured, he would be killed.
Early this week, Lira's father, Gonzalo Lira Sr., in an interview with Tucker Carlson, accused the Ukrainian government and U.S. President Joe Biden of responsibility for his son's death.
Lira Sr. alleged his son was tortured and extorted, claiming “the U.S. Embassy did nothing to help”.
In poor health and deteriorating in prison, Lira suffered from double pneumonia, pneumothorax, and severe edema, where Lira Sr said, medical attention was delayed until it too late.
The U.S. State Department offered its condolences to the family, but according to Lira Sr, did nothing to secure his son’s return to the US.
Gonzalo Lira Sr and Julian Assange’s father, Jonathon Shipton are men grieving.
Lira Sr, more so than Shipton – for Shipton, although his grief and anguish has run a course of 14 years, his son Julian Assange, is still alive.
But both men face identical challenges – the refusal of their governments to act when called upon to do so.
Gonzalo Lira and Julian Assange have been sacrificed by the Australian and American Governments for activities “contrary to national security interests or foreign policy objectives”.
If it’s not clear, then it should be that Gonzalo Lira was allowed to suffer his illnesses in prison, ultimately leading to his death. Lira was denied medical attention until it was too late.
Too many, its murder. And even though it occurred during Ukraine-Russian war – a proxy war initiated by the US to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin it has failed.
Encouraging Ukraine to join NATO and have NATO troops sitting on Russia’s border, is a redline the US knew Putin would not tolerate.
Contrary to the continual demonisation of Putin by the West, Putin has shown, controlled and measured aggression.
US geopolitical hegemony and aggression has once again destroyed another country. Its an all too familiar story that has been consistently repeated for the past 60 years.
Ukraine is a victim of US hegemony. It has not only lost the war but suffered the loss of more than 500,000 of its male population.
And Gonzalo Lira, like the Ukraine and many other countries, is a victim of America’s attempted hegemonistic rule.
Gonzalo Lira’s story will like Julian Assange’s remain a point of discussion on how the US and Australian Governments are prepared to allow their citizens to be sacrificed for the so-called importance of national security.