Out of pride, rudeness or direct differences with the new leaders, the transition of power in some American countries has become a controversial and uncomfortable moment, an attitude that Donald Trump now embodies in the US by refusing to participate. at the inauguration of elected Joe Biden.
However, this is not the first case on the continent. In recent years, America has seen some examples of elected leaders who were planted by salients in the order transfer ceremony.
In addition to the United States, the Dominican Republic and Bolivia have been the protagonists of the latest batons of elected leaders.
PRESIDENTIAL FLOOR OF 2021
On Wednesday, January 20, half the world will stop to watch the change of command ceremony in the presidency of the United States. Joe Biden will take office without the presence of the man who, until yesterday, resisted accepting his electoral defeat: Donald Trump.
Today, with the derogatory expression: “The government will leave you there”, Trump announced that he will not participate in the ceremony. “For all those who asked me, I will not go to the inauguration on January 20,” he commented in a laconic tweet.
More than a knock on the door is a relief for Biden, who celebrated that Trump is not attending his inauguration, assuring that it is “one of the few things” they both agree on, although he was confident that the outgoing vice president, Mike Pence, go ahead.
A situation that, according to several experts, was seen to come after a hectic and tense election day that gave Biden victory and turned into a “rage” of Trump to show without evidence that the fraud was committed. during the elections.
Another sign of disagreement on the part of Trump, who fueled the protests and the takeover of the Capitol by his followers last Wednesday, in which 5 people died and over 52 were injured.
However, this is not the first time this has happened in the United States: Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) refused to attend the inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) in the Capitol; and John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) did the same with Andrew Jackson (1829-1837), although the reasons were unknown.
Another president who was not at the inauguration of his successor was Richard Nixon (1974), who had already left the White House after resigning over the Watergate scandal, when his vice president, Gerald Ford, was sworn into office. . free of charge.
QUILOMBO PROTOCOL
“May God, the country and he (Kirchner) ask me.” With these words, on December 10, 2011, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner took office for the second time as President of the country in front of a full Argentine parliament.
He imposed the same words after the victory of the conservative Mauricio Macri over the kirchnerist Daniel Scioli, in 2015.
Politics refused to be present at the inauguration of his successor to transfer the presidential strip and the baton, after the “quilombo” which was unleashed by a protocol turned into a legal dispute.
The dispute took place when Macri, in a telephone call, asked the president to hand over the attributes of command in the Casa Rosada (government headquarters) and not in Congress, as was the custom of Kirchnerism in the 12 years of government.
COVID-19 AND A PRESIDENTIAL BAND
In August last year, when COVID-19 was already quarantining several countries, the Dominican Republic witnessed the inauguration of Luis Abinader as president, following the July 5 elections, which took place under strict sanitary measures.
Only eight delegations attended the inauguration, including three presidents: the President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, and the President of Guinea Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló.
Within minutes and under a simple and quick protocol in the office of the President of the Senate, the outgoing President, Danilo Medina (2012-2020), handed the presidential cup to Abinader.
The outgoing government explained that Medina will not be present at the swearing-in on August 16 in the National Congress as a preventive measure for coronavirus.
DEPLOYMENT IN EVO BOLIVIA
After a dismemberment of tense situations in Bolivia due to the departure of Evo Morales from power, the pandemic that affected the country and the triumph of Luis Arce in the elections for the Movement for Socialism (MAS), from Morales himself, came the rude president interim, Jeanine Áñez.
Áñez assured that he will not attend the inauguration of the successor due to discrepancies and accusations due to the death of civilians in military and police operations when he came to power in November 2019 and returned to his native department, Beni, located in the northeast of the country. .
“I remain here, to continue to contribute from the place that touches me, I have causes, I will defend ties and democracy,” he said, confirming that he will not participate in Arce’s investiture, which took place on November 8.
FROM ALAN TO HUMALA AND PPK IN PERU
Due to political maneuvers, ideas and radical positions, Peru was also the protagonist of several collapses between the outgoing leaders and their successors.
In 2011, Alan García (2006-2011 and 1985-1990) did not participate in the transfer of command to Ollanta Humala (2011-2016). Instead, García handed over the presidential ditch at the Government Palace to the head of the military house.
The head of state announced that he would not attend the congressional ceremony to avoid repeating the boos he received when he left the government in 1990, when he left the country in a serious economic crisis.
“It’s not a small thing or it goes against the democratic tradition”, but if “a circus or an ambush with scandals” is prepared, then the Presidency of the Republic would be disrespected, Garcia warned then
The episode was repeated by Humala himself with Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-2018) and a Fujimorista, the Speaker of Parliament, Luz Salgado, was tasked with imposing the presidential band on him.
For one reason or another, absences in the transfer of power are difficult to justify, except for the pandemic or the major cause. Politicians, according to the old textbooks of civility, must be exemplary to the public. Behavior of anger, rudeness or disagreement, are attitudes that do not speak very well about the education of these leaders.