Cuban voters back liberalized family code

Yahoo – AFP, September 26, 2022 

Cubans voted to legalize same-sex marriage and adoption as well as surrogate pregnancies in a referendum over the weekend, the communist country's electoral officials said Monday. 

Preliminary results indicate an "irreversible trend," with 66 percent of votes counted so far in favor of the government-backed change, electoral council president Alina Balseiro said on state television. 

"The Family Code has been ratified by the people," she said. 

The updated code represents a major shift in a country where machismo is strong and where the authorities sent LGBTQ people to militarized labor camps in the 1960s and 1970s. 

Official attitudes have since evolved, and the government conducted an intense media campaign in favor of the overhaul, which will replace the country's 1975 Family Code. 

The new code permits surrogate pregnancies, as long as no money changes hands, while boosting the rights of children, the elderly and the disabled. 

It defines marriage as the union between two people, rather than that of a man and a woman. 

According to the National Electoral Council, about 68 percent of Cuba's 8.4 million eligible voters had cast a ballot by 5:00 pm (2100 GMT) Sunday night. 

The law required 50 percent voter approval to be adopted. 

The referendum came amid the country's worst economic crisis in 30 years and some predicted the vote could provide an opportunity to voice opposition to the government, with dissidents calling on citizens to reject the code or to abstain.

Sealed with a kiss: Chile celebrates first same-sex weddings

Yahoo – AFP, March 10, 2022 

Jaime Nazar (L) and Javier Silva became the firs same-sex couple to legally
tie the knot in Chile (AFP/CLAUDIO REYES)

Two same-sex couples became the first Thursday to legally tie the knot in Chile, which joined a handful of countries in majority Catholic Latin America to allow LGBTQ couples to marry. 

Under a law approved by Congress in December and signed by outgoing President Sebastian Pinera, they can also now adopt children. 

"We never imagined we would experience this moment in Chile," Jaime Nazar, 39, declared proudly after marrying his partner of seven years Javier Silva, 38, in a Santiago suburb. 

The pair's two young children were there for the historic event. 

"Now, yes, we can say we are a family," said Silva. 

"Our children have the same conditions (as those of straight couples) and will have a better future without discrimination for having two dads who love each other," he added. 

Silva carried the couple's 18-month-old son in his arms, while Nazar bore their daughter of four months. 

The children are the product of surrogate pregnancies abroad that used the sperm of one of the couple. Until now, they had only one legally recognized father -- the biological donor. 

'Super proud' 

From 2015 until Thursday, same-sex couples wishing to formalize their relationship had only the option of civil union agreements, which confer most of the same rights that marriage does, but without the possibility of legal adoption. 

Jaime Nazar (L) and Javier Silva became the firs same-sex couple to legally tie
the knot in Chile (AFP/CLAUDIO REYES)

"This is a very important step for the country. We feel super proud, privileged to be here," said Nazar, who is a dentist. 

Consuelo Morales and Pabla Heuser, both 38, said they decided to get married mainly for their two-year-old daughter Josefa. 

"Today Josefa ceases to be an illegitimate daughter," said Morales. Heuser, who carried the child in her womb, had been the girl's sole legal parent until now. 

In total, three same-sex weddings took place in Chile Thursday -- the day the law took effect. 

It came on the eve of the swearing-in of leftist Gabriel Boric as Chile's youngest-ever president. 

Chile had been awaiting the passage of the marriage bill since then-president Michelle Bachelet sent it to Congress in 2017. 

In a surprise move, her conservative successor Pinera announced last year he would seek the urgent passage of the bill -- supported by a majority of Chileans -- through Congress. 

Pinera signed it into law just two days after lawmakers gave the green light ahead of presidential elections in which Boric and his far-right rival Jose Antonio Kast polled neck-and neck. 

Kast vehemently opposed broadening access to marriage rights, unlike Boric who supported the move. 

Chile is now one of 30 countries in the world that allow same-sex marriage, and seven in Latin America along with Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and some states in Mexico.

Chile congress approves same-sex marriage bill

France24–AFP, 7 December 2021

A demonstrator raises a clenched fist during a protest for abortion rights in
Santiago de Chile in September 2021 Pablo VERA AFP/File 

Valparaíso (Chile) (AFP) – Chile's congress on Tuesday approved a long-awaited bill to legalize same-sex marriage, joining just a handful of countries in majority Catholic Latin America with similar laws. 

The measure has the support of President Sebastian Pinera, who must sign it into law, and will also enable married same-sex couples to adopt children. 

The bill got the green light from the upper house of congress, or senate, Tuesday, and was immediately given the final stamp of approval by the lower Chamber of Deputies with 82 votes to 20. 

There were two abstentions. 

In Latin America, same-sex couples could until now get married only in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina and in 14 of Mexico's 32 states. 

The country legalized same-sex civil unions in 2015, and has been eagerly awaiting the legalization of gay marriage since then-president Michelle Bachelet sent a bill to Congress in 2017. 

In a surprise move, her conservative successor, Pinera, announced in June he would seek the urgent passage of the bill -- which has the backing of a majority of Chileans -- through Congress. 

The project has been consistently opposed by the most conservative bloc of Chile's ruling right wing, but has nevertheless obtained a majority "yes" vote at every step of the process in an opposition-dominated congress. 

The issue deeply divides the two candidates headed for a presidential run-off on December 19. 

Gabriel Boric, 35, who represents a leftist alliance that includes the Communist Party, supported the bill and voted "yes" in his capacity as lawmaker. 

But 55-year-old, far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast, who won 28 percent of first-round votes compared to Boric's 26 percent, campaigned against it.

Costa Rica legalises same-sex marriage in first for Central America

Yahoo – AFP, Marco SIBAJA, May 26, 2020

Costa Rica is the first Central American country to legalise same-sex marriage
(AFP Photo/Ezequiel BECERRA)

San José (AFP) - Costa Rica legalised same-sex marriage on Tuesday, becoming the first Central American country to do so and sparking an emotional response from rights campaigners as the first weddings were held overnight.

Celebrations were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but a special program about LGBT rights was broadcast on public television and online after a court ruling came into force at midnight.

"This change will bring about a significant social and cultural transformation, allowing thousands of people to marry," said President Carlos Alvarado in the program.

Costa Rica is the eighth country in the Americas to recognise same-sex marriage -- a group that includes Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina, as well as Canada and the US.

The Supreme Court in August 2018 ruled that a ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional and gave parliament 18 months to amend the laws. It failed to do that, so the provision was automatically annulled.

"Costa Rica is celebrating today: marriage equality has become a reality in the country -- the first one in Central America," tweeted the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)..

"We rejoice with you: congratulations to all those who worked so hard to make it happen!"

Gay rights activists have long campaigned for the right to
marry in Costa Rica (AFP Photo/Ezequiel BECERRA)

Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the UN's Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, called the change "an extraordinary moment of celebration" in a tweet posted on Monday.

Strong Catholic tradition

He expressed "gratitude to the work of so many activists, and of quiet reflection of the lives of those who lived without seeing this moment".

Moments after midnight, Dunia Araya and Alexandra Quiros tied the knot in a town northwest of the capital, San Jose. The young women, both dressed in white, took their vows before a notary wearing a face mask as part of measures to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Costa Rica has a strong Catholic tradition and has also seen a proliferation of evangelical churches in recent decades. Many followers of those denominations are opposed to gay marriage.

Alvarado, a centrist, was elected to the presidency in April 2018 by comfortably seeing off a challenge from evangelical preacher Fabricio Alvarado, who campaigned against same-sex marriage.

The Supreme Court decision complied with an opinion given by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, declaring that homosexual couples have the same rights to marry as heterosexual ones.

In Peru, 'they teach you to be ashamed,' indigenous trans candidate says

Yahoo – AFP, Carlos MANDUJANO, January 26, 2020

Gahela Cari hopes to become the first indigenous transgender person
elected to the Peruvian Congress (AFP Photo/Ernesto BENAVIDES)

Lima (AFP) - The first indigenous transgender candidate to run for parliament in Peru says it's time to end the culture of machismo in the South American country.

"I suffered, in my own flesh, the consequences of inequality, discrimination, violence and corruption," Gahela Cari, 27, said in an interview with AFP before Sunday's nationwide parliamentary ballot.

"We have to stop educating future macho men," she said during a break from campaigning.

Her candidacy comes as awareness of transgender people and their rights is growing in many countries.

"I'm an animal-rights advocate, an ecologist and a student leader," Cari told AFP. "I come from that part of the left that has always fought."

Cari, who has promised to support the anticorruption reforms of President Martin Vizcarra, is running as a candidate of the leftist Together for Peru party, which seeks to end the political crisis that led Vizcarra to dissolve Congress on September 30.

Small, thin and calm in demeanor, she sported an Andean hat over braided hair during her interview, with bright red lipstick and, tied to her left wrist, the green scarf that symbolizes support for legalized abortion.

What motivated you to run for Congress?

CARI: "We want trans people to have more opportunities. We don't enjoy the same conditions as the rest of the population. It's no coincidence that our life expectancy is less than 32 years. Here the state doesn't guarantee our rights."

Cari, who supports the anticorruption reforms of President Martin Vizcarra, is 

running for office amid growing awareness of transgender people and their rights 

globally (AFP Photo/Ernesto BENAVIDES)

"(Congress) has been more concerned with defending the corrupt. I'm tired of traditional politics. That's why I entered politics, to put Congress at the service of the citizenry."

How do you present yourself to voters?

CARI: "I introduce myself as a trans, indigenous, migrant woman. I was born in the south of the country. My mother is from Ayacucho and my father is from Puno. In this country we receive an education that aims to repress who we are, to repress our sexual identity and to repress our cultural identity. They force us to be ashamed of our roots."

"In a country that teaches you to be ashamed, a country that educates in order to repress you, to describe yourself as an indigenous trans person is already revolutionary. It is using your body to fight; fighting without even uttering a word."

What is the main point in your platform?

CARI: "We want to finish (Vizcarra's) political reform, to complete the reform of the justice system and to launch an economic reform that guarantees the voices of the citizenry and of vulnerable populations."

"We do not want the situation facing women and LGBTQ people to continue, which is why we are proposing a reform to put the fight against gender-based violence and all forms of discrimination on the table."

"We need to stop raising future macho men, future homophobes, future transphobes and woman killers. We need education with respect. I have suffered transphobic bullying in school."

"We're fighting to decriminalize abortion in all cases because we don't believe that a democratic state can continue to condemn a woman to be a mother against her will."

Facts about Peru (AFP Photo/Gustavo IZUS, Nicolas RAMALLO)

Is it true that you practiced prostitution?

CARI: "I had to be involved in prostitution though I didn't want to. It was for a short time... but it was the most complicated stage of my life."

"It was when I was about to finish university. I had gone five days without eating and my stomach was empty. It was a matter of necessity. I got out of it thanks to a network of contacts and thanks to feminists who saved my life."

Were you also a catechist?

CARI: "I was a catechist. I am a believer, I believe in a loving God. I believe that no religion can serve to justify hate."

If you studied law, why aren't you practicing as a lawyer?

CARI: "After finishing my university studies, those in charge refused to let me join the professional association. Without that membership, you can't work, though I tried hard. That depressed me for a while."

Is it difficult to campaign in a country with a tradition of machismo? 

CARI: "We have had to face situations of discrimination throughout the campaign. We have been threatened and have suffered situations of harassment and physical violence."

Battle over Marvel comic gay kiss is defused by Brazil court

Yahoo – AFP, September 9, 2019

Organizers of the Rio book fair appealed to the supreme court amid
worries about censorship and discrimination (AFP Photo/HO)

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazil's Supreme Court on Sunday made it illegal to ban any LGBT publication, after a lower court allowed conservative mayor to confiscate comic books at the Rio Book Fair containing content he considered "inappropriate" for minors.

Mayor Marcelo Crivella, an Evangelical Protestant, ordered the comic book removed from sale because of its "sexual content for minors" on Saturday.

Crivella -- a former bishop in the giant Universal Church of the Kingdom of God -- was elected Rio's mayor in 2016, promising to bring law and order to a city beset by crime.

The comic that sparked the mayor's ire showed the Marvel superhero characters Wiccan and Hulkling exchanging a kiss, fully dressed.

But the federal top court agreed with prosecutor Dias Toffoli and ruled that Crivella's actions were illegal because they targeted only LGBT content, violating the constitutional guarantee of equality for all.

And Crivella's move backfired as copies of "Young Avengers: the Children's Crusade" quickly sold out after he demanded it be withdrawn from the book fair, organizers told AFP.

Popular Brazilian YouTuber Felipe Neto, who has more than 34 million subscribers to his channel, also bought 14,000 books on LGBT themes and distributed them free at the fair in protest.

The image of the Marvel comic kiss was also on display Saturday at news kiosks across the country, printed on the cover of the Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil's largest national newspaper.

Publishers and writers accuse the mayor of wanting to censor content.

Constitutional law specialist Michael Mohallem, of the Getulio Vargas Foundation, had previously said that the mayor's actions, and the court decision permitting them, would violate free speech and discriminate based on sexual orientation.

"Since the decision seems to be specifically aimed at prohibiting the circulation of magazines that show gay kisses (rather than any other), my interpretation is that it is motivated by discrimination, both by the mayor and the judge," Mohallem said.

Brazil's Supreme Court in June voted to criminalize homophobia, classifying it as a crime similar to racism.

It was an important step for sexual minorities in one of the most dangerous countries for LGBT people in the world, but was criticized by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has a history of homophobic remarks.

Brazil had already legalized same-sex marriage.

Cuban police break up unauthorized LGBT rights march in Havana

Yahoo – AFP, Carlos BATISTA, May 12, 2019

Police swept in quickly to break up an unauthorized LGBT rights march in Havana
(AFP Photo/YAMIL LAGE)

Havana (AFP) - Cuban police on Saturday broke up an unauthorized pro-LGBT rights march in Havana, held as an alternative to the government-sanctioned Gay Rights parade that authorities canceled earlier in the week.

To the cries of "Yes we can!" the demonstrators, several waving rainbow flags and carrying signs with slogans like "Diverse Cuba," managed to march a mere 400 meters along Havana's downtown Paseo del Prado before being dispersed by police.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists, numbering around 100, were protesting the cancellation of the parade against homophobia organized by the government's National Center for Sexual Education (Cenesex), an office under the Ministry of Health, and held for the past ten years.

The colorful parade, or "conga," used to kick off activities educating people about homophobia and transphobia that are nevertheless taking place.

Onlookers were stunned to see an unauthorized march in Cuba, where government 

control is near absolute (AFP Photo/YAMIL LAGE)

At least three protesters who refused to obey orders to leave were arrested, according to AFP journalists.

Laydel Alfonso, a 31 year-old restaurant waiter who marched with his face concealed by a silver mask and waving a rainbow flag, was upset that police had broken up the march.

"I don't believe this is right because we're doing nothing wrong," he told AFP.

In a first for Cuba, where there is tight government control, the march was organized on social media.

Cenesex is led by lawmaker Mariela Castro, the daughter of former president Raul Castro, who at the age of 87 is still first secretary of the island's ruling Communist Party.

Earlier in the week Cenesex announced that the official march was cancelled due to unspecified "new tensions in the international and regional context." The office urged people to respect the official calls for unity.

Chile passes law allowing teens over 14 to change their legal sex

Yahoo – AFP, 12 September 2018

Deputies from Chile's Broad Front party celebrate passage of the Gender
Identity Law with a giant fake ID card reading "My identity, my right"

Lawmakers in Chile on Wednesday passed legislation allowing people as young as 14 to legally change their name and gender identity.

The Chamber of Deputies passed the Gender Identity Law by a vote of 95-46.

It allows people aged 18 and above to change their name and legal gender, while those aged over 14 can do so with the permission of a parent or legal guardian.

The Senate had passed the bill last month, so Wednesday's vote brought an end to a five-year battle in the deeply conservative South American country.

The hotly debated legislation had come close to passing several times, but the issue came to a head earlier this year in the final months of former president Michelle Bachelet's term.

"We are witnessing a historic event which we celebrate with great emotion and joy," said Alvaro Troncoso, head of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh).

"It will improve the quality of life of thousands of people whose dignity and rights have been denigrated simply by the prejudices that exist against their gender identification."

Activists had argued that not allowing people to register legally under the gender they most strongly identified with was a form of discrimination and had caused a variety of social, psychological and legal problems.

Chilean transgender activist Alessia Injoque applies make-up before an interview with 

AFP at her home -- she says the new law will give her "legal recognition" that she exists

"Right now, for the Chilean state, I do not exist," transgender activist Alessia Injoque told AFP shortly before the law was passed.

"Right now there is someone called Alejandro who is not me."

She said the new law would "grant me legal recognition of my existence: recognizing my identity is recognizing a segment of the population that has been ignored and whose identity has been denied."

A survey conducted by Movilh in August of 326 people who identified as transgender revealed that 76 percent of respondents reported having been discriminated against because of their gender identification, limiting their options to find work.

When the new law comes into effect, single people aged 18 or over will be able to legally change their name and gender by filling out a form at the civil registry office, while married people can do so at a family court.

Young adults aged 14 to 18 will need the consent of at least one parent or guardian to change their gender identity at a family court. If they do not have that, they can ask a judge to intervene.

Attempts to apply the law to those under the age of 14 ran afoul of opposition from conservative lawmakers.

Cuba to get ready for same sex marriage: Castro daughter

Yahoo – AFP, Moises AVILA, 22 June 2018

Mariela Castro Espin, daughter of former president Raul Castro, runs Cuba's
National Sex Education Center

In Cuba, where homosexuals once suffered harsh repression, a new reform-oriented constitution being drafted could pave the way for same sex marriage, Raul Castro's daughter Mariela Castro Espin says.

She is the director of the National Center for Sex Education, or Cenesex, and promotes policies to help women and the LGBT community.

The National Assembly is drafting a new constitution that will maintain the one-party system but aims to adapt the country to new social and economic times. The current one dates from 1976.

"In the constitution there is a section on rights in which LGBT people must be involved," Castro told AFP in an interview.

"Constitutions do not necessarily get down to specifics. They open doors so later we can talk about changing the legislative system."

Support of current president

After the Cuban revolution of 1959, homosexuals suffered repression and punishment. Fidel Castro eventually apologized for this and insisted it was not a systematic policy of the state.

As a member of the Cuban Communist Party, Mariela Castro works to teach leaders as well as everyday citizens about tolerance.

As a member of the Cuban Communist Party, Mariela Castro works to teach

leaders and everyday people about tolerance

One of them was Miguel Diaz-Canel, who took over as president in April, ending decades of rule by the Castro brothers -- first Fidel and then his brother Raul. Diaz-Canel got tolerance education as a member of the party's youth wing.

"At one time he would go to Cenesex and attend our meeting, and we had a very productive dialogue," Castro said.

She said Cuban society has made progress on issues involving LGBT rights.

"Before, there was prejudice against talking about these things. Eleven years ago we started holding seminars about homophobia and trans-phobia. And that helped to pave the way for dialogue among the population," she said.

For the past decade Havana has hosted a gay rights parade called the Conga.

"There are people who are bothered by seeing LGBT people dressed up and having fun, and there are those who enjoy it," said Castro.

"We do not want to cause unease but rather instill interest in dialogue," she added.

And it is not just a matter of passing laws: in countries with same sex marriage there can still be high levels of violence against LGBT people, such as in Mexico.

"With marriages, did they stop that violence attitude? No. Bring on laws, of course, but we must work from a policy standpoint and in that we have not made enough progress," said Castro.

From June 25-29 Cenesex is holding a convention on sex education, orientation and therapy.

Erode the patricarchal state

Castro has recalled that since 1965 abortion has been legal in Cuba and is carried out for free.

"The goal was to save the lives of women and ensure their right to decide what they do with their body," she said.

Gays once suffered severe repression in Cuba but now a gay rights parade 

is held every year in Havana

But in Latin America, a misogynous mindset dating way back still predominates, according to Castro.

Even with women as president in some countries it has been hard to work for gender equality.

"They did not manage to bring about change. Not because the women did not want to but rather they faced very strong political opposition," Castro said.

Cuba also went through periods of resistance to women's rights -- "but we were lucky to have the leadership of Fidel Castro" who in 1960 created the Federation of Cuban Women, she said.

Cuba's national assembly has the highest proportion of women in the world, after that of Rwanda, she argued.

The work that began 60 years ago has helped erode the patriarchal state as the paradigm of power.

"We have not managed to overcome all the symbolic elements of the patriarchal state but we have weakened it."

'Illegal to be who I am' - Daley urges change in same-sex laws

Yahoo – AFP, Robert SMITH, April 13, 2018

Britain's Tom Daley has voiced his concerns about the treatment of homosexuals
 in large parts of the Commonwealth, whose athletes are gathered on Australia's
Gold Coast for the ongoing Games (AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

Gold Coast (Australia) (AFP) - English world champion diver Tom Daley on Friday urged Commonwealth nations who outlaw homosexuality to relax their anti-gay stance.

Openly gay Daley, who is expecting a child with his partner through a surrogate, grasped the opportunity of his gold medal triumph in the 10m synchro event to push for change.

Daley, who won gold with team-mate Daniel Goodfellow, said sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex are criminalised in 37 Commonwealth countries.

Daley voiced his concerns about the treatment of homosexuals in large parts of the Commonwealth, whose athletes are gathered on Australia's Gold Coast for the ongoing Games.

"Hopefully, I know this might sound a bit political, but by the next Commonwealth Games (in Birmingham 2022), there are 37 countries in the Commonwealth where it's currently illegal to be who I am, so hopefully we can reduce that number between now and then," Daley told reporters.

"Coming to the Gold Coast and being able to live as an openly gay man is really important and to be able to feel comfortable in who you are when you are standing on that diving board.

"For 37 countries that are here participating that's very much not the case."

Daley said it was time for those Commonwealth countries to change their anti-gay laws.

"You just have to face those things and try and make change," he said.

"There are lots of things that are going to take a long time to change, but I feel with the Commonwealth I think we can really help push some of the other nations to relax their laws on anti-gay sex."

Commonwealth Games Federation CEO David Grevemberg said his organisation was proud of its record on inclusivity.

"At the time of Glasgow 2014, 43 Commonwealth countries criminalised same sex activity, but today, that number has been reduced to 37," Grevemberg said Friday.

"We hope that the Commonwealth sports movement is playing a meaningful role in the wider global conversation around tolerance, empowerment and legal recognition for all."

Daley's comments were backed by New Zealand boxer Alexis Pritchard, who wore rainbow socks in support of gay rights in her 57kg semi-final on Friday.

"I think it's particularly sad that people cannot love who they want to love," she told AFP.

"It's important that each and every individual has rights to receive love and give love to the people that they choose.

"I find it absolutely sad that we are not open to that in so many nations."

The penalties for private, consensual sexual conduct between same-sex adults remain harsh in a number of Commonwealth countries, including imprisonment, hard labour and in some cases flogging.

The Commonwealth countries that outlaw homosexuality include Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Tonga.

Costa Rica votes in ex-minister as next president, spurns preacher rival

Yahoo – AFP, Marc Burleigh, April 2, 2018

Supporters of Costa Rica's president-elect Carlos Alvarado celebrate in San
 Jose following his convincing victory (AFP Photo/Ezequiel BECERRA)

San José (AFP) - Costa Rica on Sunday voted for a former minister from the center-left ruling party as its next president, rejecting his rival, an ultra-conservative preacher who had campaigned strongly against gay marriage.

Carlos Alvarado, a former labor minister under current President Luis Guillermo Solis, who was barred from seeking a second term, won a convincing 60.7 percent of the ballots in the run-off, electoral authorities said, based on returns from more than 90 percent of polling stations.

"There is much more that unites us than divides us," he told a cheering crowd in his victory speech, congratulating the defeated candidate.

"My duty is to unite this republic, to take it forward, so it is a leading republic of the 21st century," he said.

The right-wing preacher, Farbicio Alvarado (no relation), garnered 39.3 percent. He quickly conceded defeat to a crowd of disappointed supporters, thanked God, and congratulated Carlos Alvarado on his triumph.

"We have not won the election, but we can accept this result with our heads held high," he said.

Costa Rica, a small Central American nation of five million people, had been polarized ahead of the run-off election.

Costa Rican president-elect Carlos Alvarado accompanied by his wife Claudia 

Dobles, speaks to the press after casting his vote; the 38-year-old is also a writer, 

with three published novels, and performed in a progressive rock band at 

university (AFP Photo/Ezequiel BECERRA)

Fabricio Alvarado had surged from obscurity to lead a field of 13 candidates in the first round in February by vociferously slamming moves to recognize same-sex marriage.

That stance tapped into widespread social conservatism in the country, particularly in poorer rural areas, and the preacher was also buoyed by support from evangelical churches that have proliferated in recent decades.

Writer and ex-rocker

Carlos Alvarado, in contrast, had offered a more traditional campaign highlighting several issues -- boosting education, reducing the growing deficit, enhancing environmental protections -- while incarnating continuity with the outgoing leader.

Pre-election surveys had suggested a neck-and-neck race. But in the end, the result was a clear and resounding win for Carlos Alvarado.

He will take power next month, for a four-year term.

Aged 38, Carlos Alvarado is also a writer, with three published novels, who has a taste for rock music dating back to his university days as a singer in a progressive rock band called Dramatika. He counts Pink Floyd as one of his favorite groups.

He started out professionally as a journalist but left that when he realized that "one has to be involved to change things."

A supporter of defeated Costa Rican presidential candidate Fabricio Alvarado of

 the National Restoration Party (PRN) reacts after results were announced (AFP

 Photo/RODRIGO ARANGUA)

After moving to Panama because of his wife's architectural career -- and writing a novel there -- he returned to Costa Rica to help out on Solis's 2014 presidential campaign.

After Solis won, he was made social development minister, then labor minister. He stepped down in January this year to make his own tilt for the presidency.

Deficit challenge

Being the candidate of the ruling Citizens' Action Party was both a help and a hindrance, giving him the machinery of a party in power -- but also one diminished by a scandal of officials abusing their power and being unable to prevent a rise in violent crime.

Analysts said Alvarado managed to stay a little separate from the government as its reputation slipped, and presented himself as someone who could renew the party.

One of the biggest challenges facing Alvarado as he takes charge will be trying to cut down the deficit, which has ballooned to 6.3 percent of gross domestic product.

To do so, he will have to succeed where his predecessors have failed, in pushing through unpopular measures to increase tax collection.

On gay marriage, he has declared himself in favor, aligning with an exhortation issued in January from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that such unions be recognized.