Just a few days after California declared a lockdown, rumors spread about an imminent deployment of the national guard. In hindsight, to panic because of this seems exaggerated, but at the time I think those of us that opted to leave were expecting the arrival of a oppressive police state. This might not have happened in the States but it did happen in my home country, Peru, where the government opted for a curfew, army checkpoints and complete state oppression, people were being stopped after walking only a few blocks from their apartments.
a few weeks later the state opted for a rule where only men or women could be outside on alternating days of the week. This was applauded by most, but quickly gave way to a series of transphobic abuses by the authorities. Police officers and soldiers began taking transgender and non-binary people away when going for groceries and forcing them to be ridiculed in videos that went viral. A law was also passed that gave soldiers and police officers immunity for using lethal force during the pandemic, which has been widely regarded as a “license to kill.”
