Obituary to Freedom – American Journalist Gonzalo Lira Killed in Ukrainian Prison
Gonzalo Lira, Jr. a journalist from California who graduated from Dartmouth College in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy, died on January 12, 2024, in a Ukrainian prison. After a career as an author and film writer, Lira started blogging and posting videos to YouTube, as well as garnering almost 200,000 followers on X, formerly known as Twitter. When the Russian special military operation began in 2022 with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Lira was living in Kharkiv, Ukraine, with his wife and two children and changed virtually all his social media to cover the Russian special operation in Ukraine.
Lira Exercised American Free Speech in Ukraine and Paid the Ultimate Price
In his reporting, Lira was highly critical of the Ukrainian regime and reported on Russia’s actions in a favorable light. According to the basic tenets of freedom and liberty which our nation espouses, free speech is an inalienable right of all people and is the very foundation of our American democracy. That said, in Ukraine, free speech as exercised by Gonzalo Lira is illegal, and the consequence for Lira’s free speech could have been two to eight years of “correctional labor.”
As a result of what he published, Lira was arrested by Ukrainian officials. With imagery harkening to Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago, Lira alleged that he was beaten and tortured by Ukrainian prisoners who he alleged scratched the white of his eye with a toothpick and asked if Lira could read with only one eye. After allegedly being extorted by Ukrainian officials, he made bail and decided to leave the country before the August 2, 2023 trial at which Lira was certain that he would be convicted of freely speaking and sentenced to a labor camp. In an effort to flee persecution by the Ukrainian government for what he said, Lira fled on his motorcycle 870 miles to the Ukraine-Hungary where he was arrested by Ukrainian forces. In his last post on X on July 31, 2023, Lira posted as follows:
I’m posting this thread just as I’m getting to the border checkpoint. I’m also posting videos on the two channels I have access to, The Roundtable and Gonzalo Lira-Again. If you don’t hear from me in the next 12 hours – whelp! I’m on my way to a labor camp. Wish me luck!
On January 12, 2024, Lira died in a Ukrainian prison leaving his wife a widow and his two children fatherless. The State Department confirmed the death of Lira in a statement offering their “sincerest condolences to the family for their loss.”
What Did the Biden Regime Do to Promote Free Speech Aside from Offering Condolences? – Nothing.
The United States backed the Maidan coup which overthrew the elected pro-Russian president of Ukraine in 2014 in favor of a regime which favored United States interests as determined by our government. According to the American state department, the United States has bankrolled Ukraine ever since 1991 in order “to help Ukraine achieve ‘the future it deserves.’” Well, the future that Ukraine received was a war with Russia which the United States is now bankrolling. The United States’ government/military/industrial complex (GMI Complex) has sent Ukraine over $75 billion since the beginning of the Russian special operation.
I bring these facts up not to pass judgment upon the behavior of President Biden and the United States’ GMI Complex in connection with meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation, but rather to point out that the pair completely owns Ukraine. Without the unending support of President Biden and the GMI Complex, Russia would incorporate much of Ukraine into the Russian Federation in short order. The fact of the matter is that, if President Biden or the GMI Complex desired to protect the liberties enshrined in our Constitution and truly be a beacon for freedom and liberty all over the world, President Biden would have simply called up Zelensky and told him to free Lira and deal with the consequences later, if any. Either freedom and democracy matter, or they don’t. Instead, President Biden let Gonzalo Lira, an American journalist, die in a Ukrainian prison for speaking his mind and not parroting Biden’s regime.
Why are the MSM not Reporting the Death of an American Journalist in a Ukrainian Prison?
No mainstream media outlet (aside from FoxNews) is reporting on the death of this American journalist, Gonzalo Lira. Why, especially after the mainstream media (“MSM”) fawned over Brittney Griner’s arrest in Russia on drug charges related to illegally bringing marijuana into the country? Eventually, the Biden regime negotiated her release in exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who was arrested and convicted in the United States. What about Lira being held captive in Ukraine for exercising free speech? Seems simple enough. Unlike Russia and Putin, Ukrainians are our friends, right?
Well, close your eyes and imagine Joy Reid from MSNBC reporting and publishing anti-Russian information from St. Petersburg, and the Russian federal security service arresting her at the Russia-Finland border as Reid attempted to flee persecution of her speech by Putin in a Russian court. It would be wall-to-wall, 24/7 coverage in the MSM. News crews would be camped out at the Finnish border demanding Reid’s release to Finnish authorities. The MSM and the crowds would decry Putin as a racist! The MSM would get the American masses riled up, and the crowds would spontaneously erupt in protests in front of the Russian embassy and the rest of the country. Crowds would shout “free Joy Reid to save democracy!” as they stole sneakers from the charred remains of a local merchant’s store. MSNBC, all the mainstream media, the state department, the entirety of the Biden regime, and the masses led by them would have experienced a collective hissy fit.
Gonzalo Lira Died Because of the Content of his Speech
Based upon how Biden ignored Gonzalo Lira’s plight for freedom and how the MSM are ignoring the death of Lira and how the woke MSM fawned over Griner, the collective outrage over Griner’s predicament stemmed, not from the denial of the basic human right of free speech but, from the content of her woke speech. Like Joy Reid, Gonzalo Lira was an American citizen and journalist. The only difference between Reid and Lira, and Brittany Griner for that matter and aside from fame, is what they are saying. Simply put, Griner, as a lesbian basketball player who smokes medicinal marijuana, is emblematic of being woke and part of the fashionable crowd. Reid and the rest of the woke MSM parrot the taking points of the GMI Complex, while Lira, who was not a member of the popular crowd, did not. Because he was not part of the popular crowd and because he was speaking against the grain of the fashionable crowd, Lira died. It is not necessary to agree with Lira’s journalistic point of view in order to understand that his treatment by other journalists and his own government was abhorrent. The fact of the matter is that the MSM, President Biden, and the GMI Complex did not like what Lira was reporting and publishing, so they let him die for it in a Ukrainian prison.
Biden’s Fight to “Save Democracy”
The democracy about which the Biden regime continually laments is this woke-version of democracy. In their warped, woke-version of democracy, your freedom can be taken away if your point of view is contrary to the popular position on a given subject. Indeed, you can die for it. Of course, and at this time, the Biden regime will not assassinate you, but they will turn a blind eye and let the crowd do as they will and let chips fall as they may with no regard to your plight. As a token of their affection though, the Biden regime will likely also offer its sincerest condolences to your family for their loss.
