Is this a coup?

So I’ve been living in Cotonou, Benin on the west coast of Africa for almost two years now. I know you’re trying really hard to bring up all the junior high geography knowledge in your brain right now. It’s near Nigeria.

Everything has been great! My husband and I are international school teachers. We work for a great non profit organization that we are very happy with. They have schools all over the world. Before accepting this job we did research on the place. Benin’s constitution was written in 1990 and put into place in 1990. Since then it has been a democracy. The past couple presidential elections have shown smooth, violence free transitions of power.

Benin is one of the 20 most impoverished nations on earth so, of course, there are things to worry about, but crime and violence were very low on our list of things to worry about it. We were more concerned about things like malaria and other diseases. That is, until this week.

Ever since we arrived we have heard people say bad things about the president, Patrice Talon. There are many comparisons that can be made between the Trump presidency and the Talon presidency. They’re both arrogant, rich, businessmen and they both got elected because of that trait. The ignorant masses will always vote for a rich guy that promises to make life better for everyone. He’s a good businessman, so of course he’ll be a good president, right?