Editor,

After nearly 16 years vehemently denying that no money exchanged hands in 1994 when scores of people fled to the Mille Collines hotel at the height of the massacres, self-styled humanitarian and genocide denier, Paul Rusesabagina is changing his tune.

Following his name figuring prominently in the on-going trials of two former army officers, Rusesabagina, as has become his style, rushed to the airwaves to clear his so-called good name.

Appearing on CNN the other day, Rusesabagina stated that while those seeking refuge at the hotel were charged, he did not pocket any of the money.

That is a complete about-turn. Prior to this, the man had no shame telling an un-suspecting American public that he took in people fleeing the carnage of April 1994 out of the goodness of his heart.

While Rusesabagina is only a hero in the West and in his own shifty and twisted mind, his diatribes and outright lies ought not to be left un-challenged.

One has to interpret this recent change of heart as a sign of Rusesabagina’s corny and calculated plan to continue to enrich himself at the expense of Rwanda’s tragic one hundred days in 1994.

The old adage that truth never burns still rings true. Rusesabagina can lie to some people some of the time, but not to all the people all the time.

As his Hollywood stardom begins to fade, and truth about his links to the FDLR becomes exposed, the true colors of this tragic creation of Hollywood will become apparent.

San Francisco, California
Willis.Shalita@calbar.ca.gov