Chapters
At the time of this recording, the majority of my crew and I have been restricted to three rooms on the fourth floor of the State Hotel in Dallas, Texas for eighteen hours. It is unlikely we will be going anywhere anytime soon. I want to make it clear that we have not been arrested, exactly, nor are we considered legally detained. In fact, should we request it, we could all be taken to the NAR border station through which we crossed into Texas yesterday afternoon. We will not do this because one of us, our cameraman Manolo Vasquez, has been in the custody of the Texas National Guard ever since we were separated at Checkpoint 16 along International Highway 20.
We had previously passed through three other checkpoints without a problem but once we entered Dallas city limits we noticed that traffic had slowed down considerably. We would only discover why after being taken to the hotel where we saw local news reports of a political demonstration that had very nearly turned into a riot. The Texas government is reporting one peace officer dead and another three wounded, with as many as 17 protesters arrested. There has been no mention of protester deaths in any of the reports. This disquiet is likely why all of our recording equipment was thoroughly searched at Checkpoint 16, though I am quite worried about Manolo's camera bag. Even though I explained the nature of this project and produced official documents issued by the governments of other nations, the TNG still confiscated the bag (along with all of our passports inside it) and took it to, I was told, a security screening facility. Manolo was taken elsewhere.
Manolo Vasquez, for the record, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and relocated to London with his family only a few years later. He has been a citizen of the UK since the age of 12. Currently he is being accused of being an illegal immigrant and possibly a violent protester, which if convicted would brand him a terrorist.
We were told over the phone just a few days ago by our liaison that an escort would not be necessary unless we ventured in and around the disputed territories in the south or the northwest regions of Texas. Sticking to the main roads and large cities should have given us no problem. That we came into Dallas on the day of a clash between protesters and security forces was simply bad luck.
If we do not receive word about Manolo in an hour or two, I plan on contacting a local lawyer to expedite his proof of citizenship and release from custody. For now there's nothing we can do but wait, order room service and capture any meaningful thoughts into this pen recorder, a birthday gift from my wife. Thank you, Janet. It's been a life saver.
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