Power to the People
Mark and I had a scare today, reminiscent of the “Arab Spring” when I thought my brother-in-law was in Egypt….
It’s normally such a quiet street!
Our street is a quiet one that leads right into the central park square, several blocks away. We were walking to lunch today, and heard the noise of a crowd. Mark looked at me, and I at him, and then we saw, coming towards us from the direction of the square, a swarm of people, slowly moving towards us, like a thunder cloud in the distance.
No kidding, there was a moment of panic — was it civil unrest? Had our relatives worst fears of us in Central America come true, with us caught in the middle of some sort of Ortega/Chavez/Fidel protest against US citizens??
The rumbling was growing. “La gente” were angry and getting louder, and closer.
And then I heard what they were shouting…”El ladron, el ladron” (thief, thief)!! Right down the middle of the street, there was a guy in his mid teens on a bicycle peddling furiously. And behind us, were a young woman and her 10 year old daughter. The woman had a look on her face of determination…and glee?…. She stepped out into the street, wielding her broom at the thief. The mob was closing in…
…the thief seemed to hesitate for a moment, then dropped the bike, and ran away on foot. From the swarm of people emerged another guy in his mid teens, to collect the bike — and the crowd of 80 or so cheered!
Wow…neighborhood watch on steroids…one of the factors, I’m sure, in why Nicaragua has the second lowest crime rate in the Americas.
This conjured up an unfortunate memory about our dad. A very significant event in his post work life was the day a mob of angry young Wiidrow Wilson students ran through the streets if East Camden chanting Roots! Roots! And knocked his hat off his head!
More than anything else, Mark recalls that your dad was most upset by the lack of respect from those teenagers. Based on our exposure to Central America over the last year and a half, an act like that would not go over well here!