Think of revolution in Latin America and you may well picture men with berets riding tanks, addressing large crowds and oozing machismo. Scan photos from Cuba in the 1960s, or Nicaragua in the 1980s, and most of the leaders have beards or mustaches. Women may have helped to seize power and smash the old order — especially in Nicaragua — but precious few got senior positions in the new.
For women, however, Venezuela’s revolution is more complicated. From a distance, President Hugo Chavez’s outsized personality dominates coverage of the “21st-century socialist” experiment unfolding on this Caribbean tip of South America. Always with something to say, the tank-commander-turned president is a magnetic, ubiquitous presence.
However, beyond the Miraflores Palace, where Chavez is protected by soldiers and bodyguards, there are a striking number of women in key positions.
The head of the Supreme Court, the head of the National Electoral Commission, the attorney general, the ombudsman and the deputy head of the National Assembly, as well as numerous ministers and legislators, are women. Now, with Chavez battling cancer and a question mark over his re-election next year, women are poised to play key roles in Venezuela’s political future. If Chavez recovers his health, women-led institutions could tilt the election his way, backed by female grassroots activists who mobilize voters. If Chavez dies or is sidelined, expect to see women prominent in the jockeying for power.
Feminist supporters say Venezuela has come a long way under Chavez, with laws enshrining women’s rights, the establishment of a women’s and gender equality ministry and a bank, Banmujer, which gives credit to poor women. About 70 percent of beneficiaries of government social programs, knows as misiones, are women.
“This is a feminist revolution. It has opened a path for us,” says Jacqueline Farias, head of the district capital government and a top Chavez lieutenant.
However, critics say progressive legislation is of scant comfort to women raising families amid rampant inflation, high murder rates and domestic violence. Men still dominate key positions, notably in the Cabinet, and Chavez is prone to sexist remarks: blowing a kiss to former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice saying, “Take your kiss. Don’t mess with me girl.” And calling Maria Corina Machado, a veteran opponent and his possible rival next year, “that little bourgeois woman with a nice figure.”
Merely having women in senior posts does not prove feminist progress, dissident Supreme Court judge Blanca Rosa Marmol de Leon says. Such women are collaborating in an authoritarian regime’s human rights violations — including the prosecution of another female judge, Maria Afiuni, who made a ruling that angered the president.
“This is a society where people are blind and deaf to abuses,” de Leon says.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, among others, have also expressed concern about the president’s grip on state institutions and intimidation of opponents.
So are Venezuela’s revolucionarias a refreshing, progressive force or a bully’s accomplices? Farias, jefa of the district capitalz government, is one of the most powerful women in government. The hydro engineer is Chavez’s troubleshooter and since 2009, administrator of Caracas.
A passionate advocate of the revolution, she says: “Before this was a sad, malformed country. The commandante has transformed us into people who want to change their reality.”
Farias is competent and energetic, but some see her as a symbol of anti-democratic usurpation. Chavez created the district capital entity only when Caracas voted in an opposition mayor, whose office and powers Farias took. She says her post was mandated — albeit ignored — in the 1999 constitution.
Venezuela’s economic and social woes, including rampant inflation, currency devaluations, decaying infrastructure and rising murder rate are also dismissed by supporters such as Eva Golinger, a Caracas-based activist from the US. She points to the success of land reform, new state enterprises, expanded education and alliances with China, Russia and other anti-imperialist partners.
“I’m a believer because I’ve seen the changes. People have short memories, they forget how bad things were before. Poverty and inequality are way down. And we’re just starting. In another 10 years, this country won’t be recognizable,” Golinger says.
Born on a US air force base to an American father and Venezuelan mother, who took her on human rights marches, Golinger was a lawyer in New York when Chavez was briefly ousted in a 2002 right-wing coup. There, she used the Freedom of Information Act to winkle official documents showing, among other things, that Washington knew about the plot. Now 38, she lives in Caracas editing the English-language version of the publicly funded newspaper Correo del Orinoco and revealing alleged US plots to topple Chavez.
She has accused journalists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of treason and being on Washington’s payroll. Last year, the national assembly approved the so-called Golinger law, which limits foreign funding for rights groups, political parties and other NGOs. Those affected call it a witch-hunt against civil society and government opponents.
“This is an effort to asphyxiate us,” says Rafael Uzcategui, of the rights advocacy group Provea.
If the threat is realized, Iris Varela will be applauding. Thanks to her flaming red hair and thunderous speeches, the woman recently promoted to the Cabinet to overhaul crumbling jails has been nicknamed “The Firecracker” by Chavez.
“Before people used to eat dog-food, scramble in the rubbish for scraps, but now everyone eats better,” she says. “Chavez has demystified power. People have access to the government. I will do everything I can — everything — to make sure Commandante Chavez remains in power.”
Yet Varela supports restrictions on NGOs and helped to strip parliamentary immunity from two newly elected opposition deputies, keeping them in jail. She also famously assaulted, on air, an anti-government TV host, Gustavo Azocar, who was subsequently jailed for alleged corruption.
Chavez’s stellar ratings may have fallen, but, health permitting, he retains a strong chance of re-election. While speaking of ruling beyond 2030, he has also floated the idea of a female successor and there are rumors that one of his two adult daughters will step up.
“When I hand over the presidency I would like to hand it over to a woman,” he told his party last year. “Sorry gentlemen.”
As Taiwan’s domestic political crisis deepens, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have proposed gutting the country’s national spending, with steep cuts to the critical foreign and defense ministries. While the blue-white coalition alleges that it is merely responding to voters’ concerns about corruption and mismanagement, of which there certainly has been plenty under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT-led governments, the rationales for their proposed spending cuts lay bare the incoherent foreign policy of the KMT-led coalition. Introduced on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the KMT’s proposed budget is a terrible opening
To The Honorable Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜): We would like to extend our sincerest regards to you for representing Taiwan at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday. The Taiwanese-American community was delighted to see that Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan speaker not only received an invitation to attend the event, but successfully made the trip to the US. We sincerely hope that you took this rare opportunity to share Taiwan’s achievements in freedom, democracy and economic development with delegations from other countries. In recent years, Taiwan’s economic growth and world-leading technology industry have been a source of pride for Taiwanese-Americans.
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