EVENTS THAT MARKED HISTORY: 9/11 in U.S.

Another 9/11, this one will the same level of impact worldwide, which left a trail of horror that reached every corner of the world, was the 9/11 events against the Twin Towers in the U.S.

I remember as if it was yesterday in 2001. People only talked about that. I was in Altahabana and I quickly went home to see the news as I had only heard rumors about chaos and the revenge of the U.S. that might lead to the end of the world.

It was another time. There was no internet. Therefore, I needed to read and watch as much as possible every opinion and politics space in television and radio. But it was very difficult for an 18 years-old girl, with few international knowledge, to understand everything.

For a long time, the rumors did not stop. Everyone had a hypothesis, their own culprits, a different background. For the first time, the leading global power was attacked in its own territory, the leading nation in the world was violated, subjected to terror, and for the first time their legs weakened. They felt insecure and they saw evil with every blink.

22 years have passed since that event and the date still remains latent. In fact, for many it is the first thing that comes to mind, ahead of the 1973 coup d'état in Chile, an anniversary that also shares a date and calamity. With the tragic collapse, a banner of strength and ego also fell and it led, forever, to a change in the history of the United States. The events of September 11 in the U.S. left a deep wound in global geopolitics, and its consequences did not take long to pop up.

Firstly, it was an unprecedented event that began with the hijacking of four commercial airplanes, two of which crashed into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center, iconic structures of the New York city with 110 floors each, and this is what remained most in the popular imagination, while two other aircraft crashed in the Pentagon in Washington and in an open field in Pennsylvania. It happened early in the morning and the commotion quickly spread due to the images released of two powerful collapsed buildings, smoking at first, then crumbling.

The reporters tried to break the news without much element that was not descriptive because it was so early. Those who did it, showed a bewildered city. Some people watched in surprise as the so-called Twin Towers fell. Others moved away from a place that was increasingly filled with debris and dust and toxic gases. All this accompanied by hustle and bustle, the sound of sirens, people jumping into the void. It was truly overwhelming, and until today, perhaps, it has been the most mediatized calamity in the world. Millions of individuals were attentive to what was happening.

I remember that here, so many kilometers away, we felt the fear, the uncertainty of having an omnipotent country so close with a thirst for revenge. The forecasts were diverse, some crazy, fanciful. But it was true. We had to be alert because they were frantic. The term terrorism gained strength.

Days, weeks and months passed and the investigations continued searching for the person responsible, scrutinizing intelligence information. However, it was quite complex, there were many suspicions. Thus, we learned that almost twenty men were responsible of hijacking the airplanes.

They were linked to the extremist group Al-Qaeda, which since the 1990s had already shown signs of its disaffection towards that country due to its policy of interference in the Middle East and its active meddling in conflicts such as that of Israel and Palestine. Its leader, Osama bin Laden, was subjected to an urgent international hunt that lasted almost a decade until he was assassinated in May 2011 as a result of the persecution of United States special forces in a secret operation in Pakistan.

The background was brewing for quite some time. In addition, the unpopularity of the president at that time, George W. Bush, was added, based on his poor management skills and his fraudulent path to the presidency. It coincided with the - rare - slip of the intelligence agencies that ignored data, and then there were signs in the form of attacks on US embassies, and other important events that they did not know how to assess, or just ignore.

In any case, analysts agree that the fateful event was the perfect excuse for executing the U.S. plans for world domination; for example, Afghanistan. And it was the ideal moment they were waiting for to rebuke the world through W. Bush, who after the catastrophe, made an international call and assured that if the world countries were not with them, they would be supporting terrorism.

This way, they began an unparalleled war against every form of threat, or what they considered so, and while they revealed, once again, the warmongering vocation of the American Government, thousands around the world died under that slogan, and that’s U.S. to blame.

The toll of the terrorist attack that day was close to three thousand deaths and structures of facilities near the collapsed towers were also seriously damaged. Statistics indicate that there were 400,000 direct victims, more than 16,500 people suffered mental disorders, almost 15,000 contracted cancers and more than 42,000 suffered diseases of the respiratory and digestive system due to inhalation of the smoke that spread for several kilometers.

Two decades later, information gaps remain. But, in summary, September 11, 2001 went down in history as one of the most unfortunate events for humanity. It was the beginning of the disaster. Millions of people have died due to terrorist fighting after the events.

By attacking symbols of American economic, military and political power, its organizers fulfilled the purpose of breaking the foundations of the imperialist power that seemed immovable. It impacted the psyche and health, as well as all the processes of that nation, culture, communication, security. A state of vigilance, distrust, of the end of the world, that crossed borders, became widespread, just as I perceived it 22 years ago when I found out about the events and suddenly everything around me seemed shaky, due to an event that took place thousand miles away.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff