Coincidence, or not?

The fate of the leaders of Slovakia, Burundi, Tanzania and Haiti, all of whom pushed back publicly against the covid narrative

May 19, 2024

Dear Church Leaders (and everyone else)

I ended yesterday’s post re the Prime Minister of Slovakia by saying that, in the context of these two headlines, a few days apart…

…I couldn’t help wondering what the chances are that the two might be connected.

This also brought to mind some other countries:

Burundi

In Spring 2020, Pierre Nkurunziza, the President of Burundi “maintained that God had protected the country, stating that social distancing was unnecessary for Burundi citizens and ordering World Health Organization officials to leave the country.”

In June 2020 he was reported as having “died of a sudden illness” that was “suspected to be [covid]” at the age of 55. Weeks later, the new president “declared the coronavirus the country's ‘biggest enemy’, in a major about-turn for a nation which has largely ignored the dangers of the virus.”

Here is a comparison of covid deaths per million people in Burundi and the UK (source: Our World in Data):

Tanzania

John Magufuli, the President of Tanzania, was reported in January 2021 as pushing back against the covid narrative.

In March 2021, he died, weeks after he “warned officials against acquiring [covid] vaccines saying they could harm people”. The Guardian’s article on his death described him as “covid-denying”. Aged 61, he was the first Tanzanian president to die in office.

Here is a comparison of covid deaths per million people in Tanzania and the UK, demonstrating the scale of the covid that President Magufuli was denying (source: Our World in Data):

Haiti

In June 2021, Haiti was reported as being “the Only Country in Western Hemisphere Without Vaccines”, in contrast to its neighbour Dominican Republic which had “inoculated 20% of citizens”. The Haitian government had refused covid vaccines, “citing concerns over adverse side effects like blood clotting associated with the AstraZeneca brand”.

On 7th July 2021, Haiti President Jovenel Moïse was reported as having been “assassinated by [an] ‘armed commando group’”.

Two weeks later, covid vaccines had arrived in Haiti.

Here is a map of the island of Hispaniola, with Haiti in the west, and Dominican Republic in the east:

And here is a comparison of covid deaths per million people in Haiti, Dominican Republic and the UK (source: Our World in Data):

Finally, here is a two-minute satirical take on the above (some context for the characters can be found here):

Coincidence, or not?

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