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MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Thenights were the hardest.

From the moment MedardoMairena decided to run for presi-dent, in direct challenge toNicaragua’s authoritarian leader,he was certain the security appa-ratus would eventually come forhim.

Over the summer, he watchedas other opposition leaders disap-peared. One by one, they weredragged from their homes amid anationwide crackdown on dissentby the president, Daniel Ortega,whose quest to secure a fourthterm had plunged the CentralAmerican nation into a state ofpervasive fear.

Since June, the police havejailed or put under house arrest

seven candidates for November’spresidential election and dozensof political activists and civil soci-ety leaders, leaving Mr. Ortegarunning on a ballot devoid of anycredible challenger and turningNicaragua into a police state.

Mr. Mairena himself was barredfrom leaving Managua. Police pa-trols outside his house had scaredaway nearly all visitors, even hisfamily.

During the day, Mr. Mairenakept busy, campaigning overZoom and scanning official radioannouncements for clues to thegrowing repression. But at nighthe lay awake, listening for sirens,certain that sooner or later the po-lice would come and he would dis-appear into a prison cell.

“The first thing I ask myself inthe morning is, when are theycoming for me?” Mr. Mairena, a

Nicaraguans Are Living in FearAs Ortega Comes for Opponents

This article is by Yubelka Men-doza, Anatoly Kurmanaev and Al-fonso Flores Bermúdez.

Continued on Page A8

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Asummer that began with plungingcaseloads and real hope that theworst of Covid-19 had passed isending with soaring death counts,full hospitals and a bitter realiza-tion that the coronavirus is goingto remain a fact of American lifefor the foreseeable future.

Vaccination rates are tickingupward, and reports of new infec-tions are starting to fall in somehard-hit Southern states. But La-bor Day weekend bears little re-semblance to Memorial Day,when the country was averagingfewer than 25,000 cases daily, or tothe Fourth of July, when PresidentBiden spoke about nearing inde-pendence from the virus.

Instead, with more than 160,000new cases a day and about 100,000Covid patients hospitalized na-tionwide, this holiday feels morelike a flashback to 2020. In Kan-sas, many state employees weresent home to work remotelyagain. In Arizona, where schoolmask mandates are banned, thou-sands of students and teachershave had to go into quarantine. InHawaii, the governor has issued aplea to tourists: Don’t visit.

“The irony is that things got sogood in May and most of June thatall of us, including me, were talk-ing about the end game,” said Dr.John Swartzberg, an infectiousdisease specialist at the Univer-sity of California, Berkeley. “Westarted to enjoy life again. Withina very few weeks, it all camecrashing down.”

The resurgence has left thecountry exhausted, nervous andless certain than ever about whennormalcy might return.

More than 1,500 Americans aredying most days, worse thanwhen cases surged last summerbut far lower than the winter peak.Though the rate of case growthnationally has slowed in recentdays and incremental progresshas been made in Southern states,other regions are in the midst ofgrowing outbreaks. And with mil-lions of schoolchildren now re-turning to classrooms — some forthe first time since March 2020 —public health experts say thatmore coronavirus clusters inschools are inevitable.

“No one’s wanting to go back tofight-Covid mode,” said Andrew

AS VIRUS SURGES,AMERICANS DREAD

GOING BACKWARD

1,500 DEATHS MOST DAYS

Millions Refuse Vaccines,Driving Cases to Rise

Sixfold in Summer

By MITCH SMITHand JULIE BOSMAN

Medics transported a patient in Houston last month as cases there surged. About 100,000 Covid patients are hospitalized in the U.S.JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES

Continued on Page A11

LE BOURGET, France — Theplan, to repatriate the skeleton ofa Napoleonic general who died ona Russian battlefield two cen-turies ago, was supposed to bringtogether the leaders of two na-tions long at odds.

The remains of Gen. CharlesÉtienne Gudin, who was killed inaction in 1812 during Napoleon’sinvasion of Russia, would be flownhome with official pomp, andPresident Emmanuel Macron ofFrance would host his Russiancounterpart, Vladimir V. Putin, fora funeral that would serve as asymbolic burying of the hatchet.

Instead, General Gudin’s returnto French soil on July 13 was farmore low-key: His coffin wasflown in on a private plane char-tered by a Russian oligarch andwas welcomed with a small cere-mony in a grim hangar at Le Bour-get airport, near Paris, next to adecommissioned Concorde jet.The presidents were nowhere insight.

“It was not the repatriation thatwas originally conceived,” saidHélène Carrère d’Encausse, aFrench historian of Russia.

Once seen as an opportunity toleverage history for diplomaticpurposes, the plan was eventuallysunk by France’s unwillingness tocountenance Russia’s increas-ingly tough domestic and foreignpolicies. The unraveling of theproject also spoke to France andRussia’s peculiar relationship,

shaped by a complicated sharedhistory filled with shadowy inter-mediaries and backdoor diplo-macy.

General Gudin’s case, Ms. Car-rère d’Encausse said, “reveals thecomplexity, the difficulty forFrance in this French-Russian re-lationship.”

A favorite of Napoleon, GeneralGudin distinguished himself in

battle before being hit by a can-nonball on Aug. 19, 1812, as theFrench Army marched onSmolensk, in western Russia. Hisleft leg was amputated, and hedied of gangrene three days later.

The whereabouts of his graveremained a mystery until 2019,when Pierre Malinowski, an ama-teur history buff, mounted asearch with a team of Russian and

French archaeologists — and theKremlin’s explicit support.

Mr. Malinowski, 34, a formerFrench Army corporal and a for-mer aide to Jean-Marie Le Pen,the longtime French far-rightleader, had ingratiated himselfwith the Russian authoritiesthrough a series of archaeologicalprojects connecting France and

Napoleonic General Fails to Help France and Russia Make PeaceBy CONSTANT MÉHEUT

A Moscow ceremony for transferring Gen. Charles Étienne Gudin’s remains to France from Russia.ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Continued on Page A5

PHOENIX — The hundreds ofparishioners at Desert SpringsBible Church, a sprawling mega-church in the northern suburbs ofPhoenix, are divided over maskmandates, the presidential elec-tion and what to do about mi-grants on the border. But they areunified on one issue: the need forthe United States to take in thou-sands of Afghan evacuees, andthey are passing the plate to makeit happen.

“Even the most right-leaningisolationists within our sphererecognize the level of responsibil-ity that America has to people whosacrificed for the nation’s inter-est,” said Caleb Campbell, theevangelical church’s lead pastor.

Last weekend, the church inau-gurated a campaign to raisemoney for the dozens of Afghanfamilies who are expected to start

streaming into greater Phoenix inthe next several weeks. Already,thousands of dollars have flowedinto the church’s “benevolencefund.”

“This is a galvanizing moment,”said Pastor Campbell, 39.

Throughout the United States,Americans across the politicalspectrum are stepping forward towelcome Afghans who aided theU.S. war effort in one of the largestmass mobilizations of volunteerssince the end of the Vietnam War.

In rural Minnesota, an agricul-tural specialist has been workingon visa applications and providingtemporary housing for the new-comers, and she has set up an area

for halal meat processing on herfarm. In California, a group of vet-erans has sent a welcoming com-mittee to the Sacramento airportto greet every arriving family. InArkansas, volunteers are signingup to buy groceries, do airportpickups and host families in theirhomes.

“Thousands of people just fledtheir homeland with maybe oneset of spare clothes,” said JessicaGinger, 39, of Bentonville, Ark.“They need housing and support,and I can offer both.”

Donations are pouring in tononprofits that assist refugees,even though in most places fewAfghans have arrived yet. At Mis-sion Community Church in theconservative bedroom communi-ty of Gilbert outside Phoenix, pa-

The Welcome Mat Is Out for Afghan RefugeesBy MIRIAM JORDAN

and JENNIFER STEINHAUER

Continued on Page A10

Thousands Offer AidFrom Both Sides ofPolitical Spectrum

GRAND ISLE, La. — Ida wasnot yet a hurricane when highschool coaches across southernLouisiana began preparing forwhat had become all too familiar,even inevitable.

Coach Denny Wright of tinyGrand Isle School texted hiscross-country runners and bas-ketball players about the manda-tory evacuation on Louisiana’sonly inhabited barrier island: “Noschool. No practice. I’ll let youknow when.”

Lyle Fitte, the football coach atSouth Plaquemines High Schoolin Buras, La., evacuated on whatbecame an eight-hour trip toHouston. Buras is 50 miles south-east of New Orleans on a thin, vul-nerable peninsula where the Mis-sissippi runs to the Gulf. Mr.Fitte’s high school coach rode outHurricane Katrina in a gym in2005 when the storm poured 20feet of water into lower Plaquem-ines Parish. Mr. Fitte, 30, wouldnot make the same reckless deci-sion.

“I’ve got kids,” he said.Along the Texas border in Cam-

eron Parish, which was devastat-ed last year by the one-two punch

Athletes MeetFiercest Rival:Potent Storms

By JERÉ LONGMAN

Continued on Page A12

RICHARDSON, Texas — Asteady stream of women trickledinto Prestonwood PregnancyCenter late last week, alone andwith partners, with appointmentsand without. One couple heldhands and whispered cheerfully;a young woman scrolled throughher phone until her name wascalled. A wall-mounted screen in acorner cycled through a carouselof inspirational messages. “Youare strong.” “Hope is strongerthan fear.” “There are options.”

Abortion clinics emptied outlast week after a Texas law enact-ing a near-complete ban on abor-tion went into effect. But Pres-tonwood is not one of those clinics.It is instead among the state’smore than 200 “crisis pregnancycenters,” facilities aligned withanti-abortion organizations thatoffer free medical tests and coun-seling in hopes of dissuadingwomen from terminating theirpregnancies.

These centers are sometimeslocated within sight of abortionclinics, and there are nearly 10times as many of them, a sign ofthe extraordinary success of thestate’s anti-abortion movementthat led to the passage of the coun-try’s most restrictive law.

This moment in Texas is the cul-mination of years of Republicancontrol, conservative judicial ap-pointments and rising passionaround abortion issues by manyChristians in the state. Polls showTexans almost evenly divided onabortion access and the state’s cit-ies have grown more Democratic,but it was the conservative abor-tion opponents who established apowerful political, cultural andeven physical presence across thestate’s vast terrain.

In the race among conservativestates to undo the constitutionalright to an abortion — as estab-lished in 1973 by the landmarkcase, Roe v. Wade — Texas “feelsan obligation to lead and be bold,”said John Seago, legislative direc-tor for Texas Right to Life, thestate’s largest anti-abortion

Behind a DriveIn Texas to HaltMost Abortions

Law Reflects Culturaland Judicial Shifts

By RUTH GRAHAM

Continued on Page A15

LIMBO The Taliban have lefthundreds stranded, awaitingapproval to leave. PAGE A6

In 1921, oppressed coal miners clashedwith sheriff’s deputies in the largestuprising since the Civil War. PAGE A9

NATIONAL A9-15

Blood on Blair MountainA new generation of Black surfers isbuilding on the achievements of thosewho came before. PAGE D4

SPORTS D1-8

Reclaiming Their WavesAfter 20 years, it’s time for TV to treatSept. 11 as serious, even divisive his-tory, not just dutiful remembrance,James Poniewozik writes. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

Revisiting 9/11 Differently

With more than 12,000 dead, few vacci-nated and the economy in shambles,demonstrations against the authoritieshave gotten angrier. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-8

Thai Protests Are Daily EventWith box office numbers way down inthe pandemic and streaming numbershard to come by, the film industry isoften unable to determine whether amovie is a hit or a miss. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-4

The Black Box of Hollywood

The record rainfall from Hurricane Idaappeared to damage every home on onetight-knit block in Queens. PAGE A14

Where a Flood Spared No OneUkraine challenges the medal counts ofmuch bigger nations in the Paralympicsdespite daunting obstacles. PAGE D1

Underdog Among GiantsThe preliminary analysis of a U.S. dronestrike on a car in Afghanistan offers lessconclusive evidence of explosives thanofficials had initially claimed. PAGE A7

Questions Swirl Around Strike

Summia Tora used her connections toget her father and an uncle out of Ka-bul. Helping other Afghan refugees, shesaid, may be her calling. PAGE A6

Rhodes Scholar’s Mission

Farhad Manjoo PAGE A16

OPINION A16-17

The pandemic exacerbated many of theissues that fuel employee burnout. Now,companies are trying to combat theeffects of working remotely by offeringmore time off and other perks. PAGE B1

Please Don’t Quit

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 59,173 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

Today, partly to mostly sunny, sea-sonably warm, less humid, high 83.Tonight, mainly clear, low 64. To-morrow, sunny, low humidity, high78. Weather map is on Page A18.

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