You Cannot Compare the Deaths of Alexei Navalny and Gonzalo Lira

One of them didn't side with Vladimir Putin

The attempt on the part of pro-Russian propagandists to turn Gonzalo Lira into a posthumous hero never ceases to amaze me. As I previously wrote, Gonzalo Lira was the Chilean American who tried other careers (novelist, filmmaker, economics expert, relationship expert) before becoming a pro-Russian propagandist while living in Kharkiv, Ukraine as Russia was invading Ukraine. He was arrested for violating Article 436-2 of Ukraine's Criminal Code prohibiting anyone from justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine. He was released on bail but then attempted to escape to Hungary while stupidly posting videos on YouTube documenting that escape. He was captured then sent to prison where he died of pneumonia.

After his death Fox News attempted to turn Gonzalo Lira into a victim of Ukraine but, fortunately, that hype was short-lived. But now that Alexei Navalny is dead (which I wrote about yesterday) Kremlin propagandists are now bringing up Gonzalo Lira once again. This morning I was watching this video on YouTube where world leaders made statements about Navalny's death. I saw the comments section and it looked like the Russian bots were out in full force and they were all bringing up Gonzalo Lira. Here's a sample post.

Unfortunately the comments under that one YouTube video weren't an anomaly. When I went on Twitter/X I found even more tweets where these propagandists are trying to say that Gonzalo Lira was just as big of a hero as Alexei Navalny while conflating the deaths of both men together.

These Kremlin propagandists need to stop making “Gonzalo Lira was a real hero” happen because he was no hero. This guy was a scumbag in life who kept on making incredibly bad decisions and he's now dead as a result.

I'm willing to admit that Alexei Navalny made some questionable statements regarding the Russian annexation of Crimea and the nation of Georgia (although he would later apologize for the latter). But it would still be an insult to his memory to lump Gonzalo Lira with him.

I came across this Google Docs on Gonzalo Lira that includes a whole bunch of horrible things that he had done (which are all backed up with links to screenshots, videos, and websites), much of which I hadn't even known about before when I wrote my two previous posts about this guy. (One example is that he had beaten his autistic nephew during a family visit to Chile.) Compare that Google Docs about Gonzalo Lira with Alexei Navalny's Wikipedia page and you'll understand why lumping the two men together is an insult to Navalny's memory. Despite Navalny's flaws, Gonzalo Lira could never hold a candle up to that guy.

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