Summary Of Turo: The Case Of Guatemala After A Military Coup In Syria

When Olga Montenegro wrote the essay “Turo”, she talks about the war that took place in Guatemala after a military coup. Something similar to this kind of civil war has been recently going on in Syria over three years’ time. Syrian citizens suddenly started to rebel against and attack each other; they started bombing houses, kidnapping children, and killing innocent civilians. As a result, the country turned into a kind of field for massacres so citizens were forced to flee the country and leave all of their belongings behind. Later, after the election of the new president, the Syrian governing system took an even more adverse turn. It was not the same cheerful and basically unified Syria like before, war crimes increased drastically, people could not leave their houses, and the introduction of chemical weapons brought chaos.
One day the situation in Syria, similarly to the one in Guatemala, became acrid, the citizens contravened against each other, and a civil war broke out because of the election of a possible new president, or in the case of Guatemala a military coup. The situation went out of hand; my hometown, Damascus — one of the oldest continually inhabited cities known for its multicultural and international community cuisine — became a wasteland. Teenagers caught who were writing
revolutionary slogans on school walls were shot dead. Due to the astringent conditions, my family members and I were forced to flee but had to leave my father behind, which is similar to what happened in Guatemala when her father had to stay behind to try to fix the situation there. At the airport security would not let us through since my father was still enrolled in the army; in fact, my father was a component of the Syrian army for as long as I can recollect. This is somewhat similar to Montenegros father’s connection to the formerly democratic reforms before the coup. Over time, the situation turned worse and worse; people were forced to close down their shops since the killing was getting out of hand. Anyone found outside, or on the streets, was either shot or abducted. The citizens were actually left to starve as no one was disposed to sell any goods, fearing for their lives. My brother and I would begged my mom to let us play outside but instead she would show pictures from when were kids to regale us. Similarly when Olga asked her mom to go outside but she slapped her. We infrequently had the chance to perceive my father visually due to the conditions; the incipient president was stringent and would force people in the army to work day and night with no breaks. Explosions would often occur throughout the day, we were always afraid that something might transpire to my father. Furthermore, we were always in peril of being assailed by scavengers who venture in the night probing for defenseless houses to assail. The president commenced receiving chemical weapons from neighboring countries so he could use them against the rebels.
These chemical weapons were no ordinary weapons; it doesn’t look like anything much at first. It’s not spectacular. Above all, it’s not detectable. And that was the aim of the weapon, by the time the rebels realized what was happening the poison had already entered their body, it was too late. And then the symptoms appeared. It happened just a few meters away from me. I watched the men cough violently and hearing them scream in agonizing pain was terrifying. Soon after they started to experience difficulty breathing and soon after lost
consciousness. In conclusion, Syria has suffered the loss of many casualties over the last three years since the commencement of this war. I’m grateful to my parents for rescuing me from this disaster. People in Syria are forced to close down their businesses, and spend most of their days trapped in their houses suffering from starvation because they are afraid of what might happen if they go outside. Furthermore, chemical attacks may strike them at any given moment. I hope that one day Syria will become a peaceful country it once was before the election of the new president.