The Waco (Texas) massacre still resonates in the United States three decades later. Its echo has become, above all, a symbol of protest for the extremists who worship weapons.
That the Government does not touch your guns, would be his current motto, drawn from that tragic confrontation.
It’s been 30 years now since there was a standoff between federal agents and the apocalyptic sectarians of the Branch Davidiana led by the charismatic David Koresh, who believed in the imminence of the end of the world.
Federal agents launched an attack on February 28, 1993 to evict the ranch in Mount Carmel, 20 miles from Waco. It was a real disaster. Four agents and six Davidians died.
The sectarians, who had a lot of weapons, resisted. The siege lasted until April 19. It ended with an attack by the feds, who started a fire. There were 86 deaths in total.
As yet another demonstration of the political division of this country, Americans are at odds on this issue. For some it is an unforgivable chapter of government overreach in the control of citizens, while for others it represents the deplorable outcome of the fanaticism of a very dangerous sect.
One only has to remember that Donald Trump held in Waco, on March 25, his first electoral rally for 2024. In an allegorical reference, without saying it, he linked the Davidian victims with “political prisoners” who, incited by him, they stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Choirs of some of those imprisoned for the attempted coup were heard in the anthem.
According to documents and testimonies, the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Weapons (ATF) seemed much more concerned about the amount of weapons that sectarians accumulated than about the abuse and rape of girls and adolescents who were separated from their families.
His investigations were marked by blunders. When some undercover agents settled in a house, across the street, posing as university students, the guards discovered it at the moment. To ingratiate themselves with the neighbors, the supposed students called a party and invited the sectarians. “Some of those who attended immediately informed Koresh that they were federal agents, for sure,†reads Waco: D avidKoresh, the Branck Davidians and a legacy of rage, which Jeff Guinn posted in January. The 30th anniversary has also led to a documentary series on Netflix ( Waco: american apocalypse ) and Showtime premieres this Thursday the dramatization Waco: the aftermath .
The fact is that agent Robert RodrÃguez managed to infiltrate as another follower of the cult. Everything points to the fact that the leader caught on immediately, although he continued to invite him to study the Bible.
The day before the first attack there was an attempt within the Government to stop the assault. It was preferable to stop Koresh at one of his exits. And on February 28, RodrÃguez discovered that the Davidians knew that the operation would take place that day. He informed his superiors that the key effect of surprise had been lost.
It was done the same. The ATF leaders believed that it would be a walk and that they would score a point. It came out fatal. During the siege, tensions were evident in the FBI between the negotiators and the action teams.
That siege allowed the myth of overprotective power to grow and helped spark the rise of radicals. Timothy McVeigh traveled to Texas in those days of siege and sold stickers with slogans like “fear the government that fears your guns” or “a man with guns is a citizen, a man without guns is a subject.”
Two years after the massacre, on April 19, 1995, “Citizen†McVeigh, a white supremacist, blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City. He caused the death of 168 people, including 19 under the age of six. Today there are still many citizens who idolize weapons despite the continuous killings.
