The plane flies from Chicago to Dubai and the plane opens. The film continues with the landing in the Gulf city and continues when Paul Rusesabagina, the protagonist of the events that inspired the film ‘Hotel Rwanda’, accesses a private jet that takes him, surprisingly, to the Rwandan capital, the cave of the Wolf.
The narrative takes an unexpected turn. No one can explain how the man who criticized Jean Paul Kagame has returned to his country, where he is displayed by the police as a game of big game. Surprisingly, the man who saved 1,200 Tutsi refugees in a hotel besieged by blood-hungry guerrillas is charged with terrorism, murder, kidnapping and arson .
The operation is confusing. The Rwandan Bureau of Investigation alleges that he was detained after an international arrest warrant was applied, but the United Arab Emirates denies the existence of extradition agreements and claims that the detainee voluntarily boarded the aircraft.
The family, who live in Texas, claim to be unaware of the reason for the trip and claim that he has been kidnapped by the African country’s secret services , which are credited with an implacability worthy of the best black genre film.
Some antecedents are disturbing. Camir Nkurunziza, a member of the opposition Rwandan National Congress, was assassinated last year in Cape Town and, six years earlier, his comrade Patrick Karegeya was killed in a hotel in Johannesburg.
Perhaps the only certainty comes from the White House. The same one that awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from the hands of President George Bush, has left him to his fate , simply asking that the Government grant him “humane treatment.”
Rusesabagina’s best hope lay in the United States, where he resides, but Washington obviously prefers to look the other way and not snub its faithful ally in the strategic Great Lakes region.
The situation in Rwanda does not attract much interest in a world subjected to a pandemic, although its recent history is worthy of the big screen or a series of payment platforms.
For the public opinion, the genocide of Tutsis and the search for the culprits attract all the little interest , but this is not a film where the roles of executioners and victims are well defined. The Rwandan Patriotic Front militia came to power and displaced the murderers from the machetes. Now, the story doesn’t end there, it just gets complicated.
The military leader Jean Paul Kagame took over the presidency in 2000 and two decades later remains in power, while his rivals suffer a high mortality that does not seem natural.
The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has denounced that the ruling party exercises total political control and that critics tend to end up in jail, die or disappear . In the 2017 presidential elections, the leader obtained 98% of the votes, the second, Philip Mpayimana, 0.73% and Frank Habineza, 0.48%.
The latter’s vice president had been found beheaded in a forest eight years earlier.
There are many possibilities of starting a political career in Rwanda and ending up in a cell. The justice of the republic of a thousand hills, which according to HRW, is not completely independent , also set its eyes on Victoire Ingabire, who returned from Holland to lead a platform against Kagame.
Accused of the crime of revisionism of genocide, taboo in the country, she was sentenced to eight years in prison. While he was serving his sentence, the Supreme Court reviewed his case and added seven more. Two years ago, he was the object of presidential pardon and remains on probation.
The script of the Rwandan film, at times, seems crazy. The naked body of Diana Rwigara, a frustrated candidate for the 2017 elections, was disclosed on the internet and, a month after the voting, she was arrested along with her mother.
He was in prison for a year before all charges were dropped. Now, nothing can resemble the drama of the musician Kizito Mihigo, author of the national anthem who has become a critic of the system . Apparently he committed suicide last February while under police surveillance.
The recent history of Rwanda should be, curiously, an epic tale of overcoming . In the last fifteen years, the small former Belgian colony, lacking in great resources, has reduced the misery of 70% of the population to less than 40% thanks to its high rates of growth and mining and agricultural development, the urban expansion of its pristine capital and the implementation of an exemplary infrastructure network in East Africa.
But the dark side of the economic miracle is the suppression of all dissent. Paul Rusesabagina has been the last victim. ‘Hotel Rwanda’ does not end with the departure of the guests from their refuge. The suspense continues
