( Spanish) — Lawyer Tamara Adrián is preparing to join the race for the presidential candidacy of the Venezuelan opposition that will be defined in primary elections on October 22. In 2015, she was the first transgender legislator, not only in Venezuela but also in Latin America, after winning the seat with the Voluntad Popular party.
In this new stage, the human rights activist received the support of the United for Dignity party to compete with at least eight pre-candidates who will compete for the possibility of meeting the proposal of the party of the questioned president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, in the presidential elections, which, according to the Constitution, must be held in 2024.
Adrián says that his objective is to promote “a conscious, capable and free Venezuela” and raises his concern about the fall of the economy and migration. For her, it is essential to work for a transition to another government.
Adrián said that his candidacy is, in some way, a trigger for awareness, especially regarding the LGTBQ community, and he stresses that he is “the first transsexual person in the world to face this challenge” of participating in a presidential process.
“The 20th century is over and this 21st century is very different,” Adrián said in statements to , adding that he is very clear about the challenge that lies ahead, since he understands that “radical groups against the rights of the community LGBT are very strong in the dominant coalition, but they are also very strong in the opposition”.
“A country that respects differences is a more dignified country and it is a country that can create a collective project within the differences and find that there is more that unites them than what divides them,” said the former deputy, who says that seek a project that includes everyone in a country where differences have prevailed.
Tamara Adrián’s candidacy takes place in a Venezuela where equal marriage is not legal and neither is name change for transgender people. In this regard, he assured that “the hegemonic coalition, which calls itself revolutionary, has been in its praxis the closest thing to the extreme right in the world, and its discourse as well”, although he acknowledged that the opposition did not propose to debate the issue either.
The former deputy maintains that Venezuela has lagged behind in this matter in the region, while countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Cuba, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia have made progress in this type of claim.
The lawyer assured that one of her first battles to fight will be to define under what name she will be allowed to register her application since, legally, she still has the name of her birth, and stated that on other occasions other candidates have been allowed to use a nickname in the voter card and not the name on your ID. ication.
Regarding equal marriage, the also defender of the rights of the LGTBQ community stressed that she or anyone would have to be able to marry as established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Adrián assured that it is difficult “for those who do not have gender glasses, to see the inequalities.”
For those who say that Venezuela is not ready to have a transgender leader, the former deputy assured that it is important to educate the population on those issues that are fundamental in the 21st century.
Reflecting on whether, due to being a transgender person, she has found herself with limitations in the exercise of a political career in Venezuela, the presidential candidate said that in gender theory there is always talk about something known as the “glass ceiling”. ”, which he defines as the “minority syndrome”. The important thing, she affirmed, is that each one understands that his duty is to see that these ideas were imposed from outside and that they have been internalized so that people believe that they have a limit. It is then, she maintained, when she becomes aware and grabs a stone to break the “glass ceiling” in order to ascend.
The lawyer assured that her candidacy allows to add to the political debate in Venezuela the issues of the 21st century such as development with inclusion, elimination of gender barriers and people with disabilities and global warming.
