The magnanimous Palace of the Parliament, Romania
THE RED ROAD, ROMANIA
You have been visiting the Retezat Natural Park, in the heart of the Carpathians, which is a spectacular attraction in itself... but now you want to delve into the recent history of this sister country and contextualize some chilling chapters such as the trial and execution almost totally televised of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife.
For a deep dive that does not leave you indifferent, you could start the Red Route in Scornicesti , 124 km from Bucharest, where the communist dictator (1974-1989) known as the Conducator was born. To collect some data on what happened, to the film by Romanian director Andrei Ujica, _ Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu ,_ is made with scenes from the old archives of the communist government.
Next, it is necessary to visit in the capital the Palace of Parliament, the largest building in the world after the Pentagon built to house the Communist Party, and which today is the headquarters of several democratic institutions. But the real hitch of this route is the visit to the Târgoviște military barracks where he was executed along with his wife on December 25, 1989 (80 km northwest of Bucharest), after a live trial for the whole of Romania lasting almost two hours in which the new body of legal power blamed them for genocide, of undermining the power of the state and destroying the national economy while the couple lived in all kinds of luxuries. The barracks today have been transformed into a successful museum whose tour lasts 20 minutes and costs seven leis (€1.5) to enter.
Choeung Ek Stupa, the memory of the Khmer Rouge conflict
THE KHMER ROUTE, CAMBODIA
The country demands tourist attention thanks to the temples of Angkor, its wonderful beaches, its climate, its smiling and simple people, the endangered Mekong dolphins... but once there it is inevitable to attend to the horrible recent history of this town and after this route, you will not be able to look them in the eye without pitying them and minimally understanding the suffering of a people.
The route of the horror experienced during the insane dictatorship of Pol Pot (from 1975 to 1979) would begin in the Choeung Ek Genocide Center (It is best to take a tuk tuk and for about 2 or 3 dollars to make the round trip, although it is best to combine it with a visit to the Genocide Museum for a couple of dollars more). Known as one of the killings fields, 8,895 bodies were found in Choeung Ek once a dictatorship ended that is estimated to have killed between one and three million people). The absurd regime of democratic Kampuchea took people to these extermination camps whom they murdered with sticks so as not to waste ammunition (including children). Today in this place a Buddhist stupa stands surrounded by memories.
You can continue the route in the Genocide Museum is located in the buildings of Tuol Sling, S-21 (113th Street in downtown Phnom Penh), a former school converted into a high-security prison for the interrogation, torture, and execution of victims. About 14,000 people passed through here, of which only twelve survived.
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
THE ROUTE OF THE CHIVO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Rarely do we go further in a destination like the Dominican Republic (beyond the Caribbean beach and guaranteed cogorza, I mean). Perfect to delve into the most recent history of the country is the Goat Route that for three hours makes you go through some of the darkest and bloodiest chapters of the dictatorship (from 1930 to 1961) of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, known as "El Chivo" . To make a splash, get yourself a copy of La Fiesta del Chivo by Mario Vargas Llosa, which draws the last years before his murder in Santo Domingo (by the way, Villa Trujillo when he was alive).
On the back of vehicles from the 50s and 60s like those used by the dictator, driven by chauffeurs dressed in the style of the time, the route begins at the ** Museo de la Resistencia ,** where the luxurious cars of El Chivo are kept, continues in the place where some opponents were assassinated, to the imposing National Palace –Yanukovych-style mansion– and basks in the Culture Square . This complex houses a theater, a national library, etc., which were built on more houses owned by Trujillo and his daughter Angelita (he had 35 houses in the city with skating rinks, gyms, etc.).
The route ends where the character's act of greatest delirium took place: the macro space where the event called as Fair of Peace and the Free World, in which hundreds of billions of pesos were wasted.
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National Palace of Santo Domingo