By SHAYLA ESCUDERO and CHERYL ROMANO/LINCOLN CHRONICLE
Telma Pombrol’s family fled from authoritarian regimes in Cuba and Venezuela. She’s vowing not to do that again.
That’s why the Toledo resident joined an estimated 500 others Saturday in Newport, 300 in Yachats and 100 in Lincoln City – and thousands more in cities around Oregon and across the country – to protest the actions of the Trump administration.
“My family left Cuba in the 60s and in the 2000s left Venezuela,” Pombrol said as she stood along U.S. Highway 101 near Newport city hall. “We’ve seen this twice before.”
In Lincoln County and across the country, protesters came out in defense of public education, health care for veterans, federal workers, abortion rights, the environment, and stood against mass deportations, the Department of Government Efficiency and a myriad of other issues.
The mass action, “Hands Off!” was organized by Indivisible, MoveOn and other activist groups.
In Newport, protestors crowded sidewalks, crosswalk corners, the city hall lawn and steps and chanted “This is what democracy looks like.”
Some held upside-down flags, a sign of distress, while others held handmade signs like “Make diversity great again” and “Public education is the great equalizer.” At the center of the lawn were two life-size cutouts of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris with a sign that read “Miss them yet?”
Pombrol said her parents lived in Cuba and watched their fellow students disappear overnight. As a young family, they decided to flee the country and seek asylum in the United States, where Pombrol was born. They later moved to Venezuela when her father used his degrees in engineering and business to build a life and a business.
But once they experienced the authoritarian regime of Hugo Chavez, they knew they had to leave again, Pombrol said.
Her parents have always been very open about why they left and continue to talk about it because they believe it is important.
“Watching my family flee inspired me to not stay quiet, sharing these experiences helps them to prevent them from happening again,” she said. “Knowledge is power.”
For Pombrol, it felt like she and her family were picking up protest signs before most others did. She does a tally — the casual mention about not having an election again, banning books, suing media companies that have been voices of dissent.
But this time she and her family aren’t running away.
“I don’t want to abandon our country,” she said. “I feel inspired to fight.”
Pam Pitts is a member of the Indivisible group and has been protesting nearly every weekend at Newport city hall. Pitts wore a leather hat, tie dye T-shirt and carried a sign with the words “Constitution in crisis.”
One of the focuses of the organization has been to let people know their rights, she said, especially those who may be targeted in the Trump administration’s mass deportations.
She took a stack of red laminated cards from her pocket that have a script to follow if someone is approached by immigration agents. “I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th amendment rights … unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door … I choose to exercise my constitutional rights,” the slip reads.
The days in between protests can feel a little dark, Pitts said, but seeing the large turnout Saturday was energizing.
Lexii Galbreath, who works in a Newport-based holistic therapy business, said she has seen a rise in anxiety and depression in her clients because of the Trump administration. She has especially been concerned for her veteran clients and planned cuts at the Veterans Administration programs that would affect services.
She’s also concerned for herself.
“I am a member of the LGBTQ community, I’m BIPOC and I’m concerned as a woman for so many reasons,” Galbreath said.
There isn’t any one issue as to why she protested Saturday. It’s all interconnected.
“If you are paying attention it’s not hard to be concerned,” she said. “I want to be able to look back and say I was on the right side of history.”
300 in Yachats
In Yachats, an estimated 300 protestors gathered on the downtown sidewalk to say “Hands Off!” to the Trump administration.
Most held homemade signs decrying the administration’s cuts and threats to a range of agencies and issues: Medicaid, Social Security, the Veterans Administration, womens rights, science, libraries, and more.
As one demonstrator remarked, “There are too many issues for one sign.”
With chants of “Hands off freedom of speech” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go,” the group massed peacefully in a turnout that stretched along both sides of U.S. Highway 101 for three blocks.
Most motorists passed through the protest slowly, many honking and waving in agreement and recognition.
“Right now we’re in big trouble, and everybody knows it,” said Anne Burnett of Yachats, who served as a volunteer host for the protest, dressed as late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and carried a bullhorn.
The Trump administration’s actions are “wrong, criminal, illegal, inhumane,” said Lynne Schroeder of Eugene, who was accompanied by houseguests from Indiana and Washington. “We have to stand together,” she said.
Jacqueline Danos of Yachats said she was a first generation American and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. “I’m really glad my Dad’s not here” to see what the Trump administration is doing, she said.
What did the protestors hope to accomplish? For most interviewed, the answer was to make elected officials aware of citizens’ feelings about the current administration.
“I’m here to stand up for what America should be, what America has represented,” said Stephanie Hanchette of Yachats. “I hope these demonstrations across the country today give some of our politicians a backbone.”
Another anatomical reference came from Pam Luderitz, a well-known community volunteer: “I just hope that the spineless wonders in the House of Representatives take note of their constituents. Their chances of re-election are dropping like the stock market.”
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org
- Cheryl Romano is a Yachats freelance reporter who contributes regularly to Lincoln Chronicle. She can be reached at Wordsell@gmail.com
The problem Ms Pombrol references is our weaponized immigration policy. Previous US administrations subjected Cuba and Venezuela to sanctions and terrorist attacks. They prioritized immigration by middle-class Venezuelans and Cubans in order to further destabilise those countries, and create an angry diaspora (Juan Guaido, Marco Rubio, et al) in the US.
The current administration has changed its policy, slightly, and is no longer favoring ‘illegal’ migrants from those countries. If these guys seem angry, wait till the Azov batallion refugees from Ukraine start to arrive.
Thanks for the great article on the Newport rally. As an FYI: the crowd was at least 1,200 people.
Thank you, my freedom loving neighbors.