Gonzalo Lira resurfaced, alive!

Taken in by the Ukrainian SBU, but released

GOOD NEWS!

The Chilean war correspondent and youtube blogger Gonzalo Lira, has resurfaced, and assures us he is alright! In this case, I am very happy to admit I was wrong in my strong suspicion that he was killed by Azov! (Which tells you again how you can never take people’s words and insinuation at point value.)

Clearly still very shaken, he seems to be doing well.

He mentioned that he was taken in by the Ukrainian secret police, the SBU, and that he was released again. No details, no reasons, just that.

As my previous posts on him said, being taken in by the SBU was a best case worst case scenario. They are very brutal, but they have political and international accountability, definitely when it concerns foreign nationals. People like Azov don’t have such concerns, as the tweets by Botsman that were posted clearly show. Those tweets made me fear the worst, luckily it was ‘only’ the SBU.

Mr. Lira acknowledged that his case has gotten attention, enough attention to lead to his release, we can only assume.

So a huge thank you to everyone who shared my posts on him, or any other post or comment about Gonzalo Lira, spreading the news about his disappearance.

Thank you to those who prayed for him and his family.

Thank you to those who contacted the Chilean consulate or embassy near you.

Thank you to those who contacted their representatives to have them ask the Ukrainians about Mr. Lira.

Thank you for everything you did to put this into the spotlight.

The last, very effective types of messages I saw being circulated, compared Mr. Lira to several other cases of journalists who ‘disappeared’ or actually got killed, and the storm of international protest those cases created, and the complete silence about Mr. Lira…

As well as an increasingly angry push-back against the Daily Beast and others who very carelessly (or purposefully) doxxed Mr. Lira, pointing the Ukrainian government to this critic of theirs, in a climate that is very tense, and where words such as collaborator, spy, saboteur, traitor, carry a very hefty price…

Apart from the shooting war that is going on, and the real suppression and arrests and imprisonment that people endure, there IS also a wide information war going on, in which we all are embroiled. And this outburst of messaging and growing pressure most definitely helped turn the tide for Mr. Lira.

A tactic that most people forget about, is that of silence. Worse than a lie, worse than a half-truth, is to be ignored or silenced. (Who knows about the millions who protested the various vaccine mandates, in the US and in Europe? About the absolutely fantastic 10 day long pots and pans serenade before the Danish government building, creating such a ruckus that their government gave in and didn’t enforce certain draconian rules? Ready made for TV, couldn’t script it better for a movie, with very dramatic and awesome images and sounds. Yet, crickets. Not a peep. So it all dies out a quiet death, and it doesn’t spark further protests and unrest.

Silence has the effect of extinguishing the hot embers that could set a whole forest aflame. The angry or indignant voices that, if left unchecked, would lead to a groundswell of protest. Cut them off before they are heard, and the masses won’t have any idea that something repulsive is going on that they should be up in arms about.

So the SBU tried to ‘disappear’ a critic of the Zelensky regime. It didn’t go as planned, as Mr. Lira didn’t quietly disappear, but spurred on a growing cry for justice and accountability by the Ukrainians about this man.

And wherever you stand on the merits of the insight Mr. Lira brings, the moment journalists or eye witnesses have their voices cut and are being arrested, a line is crossed. I hope and pray that Mr. Lira remains safe, and manages to evade the cross-hairs of Azov.

That the whole war may end soon.