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.

El Salvador children, priest launch initiatives to stave off hunger

Yahoo – AFP, Carlos Mario MARQUEZ, August 22, 2020

Priest Moises Rutilio Moran checks the water filters in a pond where he
breeds fish at his church in Santa Ana, El Salvador

Priest Moises Rutilio Moran didn't sit twiddling his thumbs when the coronavirus pandemic struck and his church emptied -- like many Salvadorans, he got creative helping combat the country's COVID-induced lack of food.

Determined that his church in the city of Santa Ana "shouldn't be a burden on the community," Moran and his staff dug a pond and started selling affordable fish to the local community.

Some 50 kilometers (30 miles) east in El Chaparral, a village of 107 families, children began rolling up their sleeves, cultivating a vegetable garden that is providing food for the community.

The pandemic and its economic woes have sent the price of fruit and vegetables soaring, and left Salvadorans scheming plans to feed themselves.

"I know how to preach, teach the catechism, manage groups, but launching a tilapias project, never," the 41-year-old priest told AFP..

After churches were closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Moran started collecting groceries to help 1,700 families, "not just poor people with houses made of (metal) sheets" but also lawyers and engineers who lost their jobs.

However, he soon realized he no longer had the means to pay for the electricity, water, telephone and internet at his church, Our Lady of Rosario.

Church caretaker Roberto Rivas prepares fish bred in a pond to be sold to 

parishioners and visitors in Santa Ana, El Salvador

Thus his project was born: provide cheap fish to the community whose payments would keep the church running "in a reciprocal manner."

On a makeshift table next to the pond, 65-year-old church caretaker Roberto Rivas is in charge of gutting the fish.

While the work is rewarding, Rivas told AFP he hopes the church "opens soon because in these worrying times the faithful need us to accompany them."

After five months of closure, churches are tentatively hoping to reopen their doors on August 30.

While many parish priests laid off their employees due to a lack of resources, Moran's new enterprise means he's actually hired new staff.

William Hernandez, 42, was left unemployed after the pharmacy he worked in for 16 years closed due to the crisis.

Now he wields a net and catches fish "chosen by the customer" while Omar Blanco, 29, serves as one of two workers making deliveries by motorcycle.

A girl holds a bundle of radishes in the community vegetable garden in El Chaparral

"It's an excellent initiative discovering sources of work in the midst of a difficult situation in which we have to reinvent methods (of generating income) for the church," priest Oscar Lagos told AFP as he arrived with a cooler to buy some fish.

'Getting children involved'

In the village of El Chaparral radishes, peppers, cabbages, tomatoes, spinach, blackberries and watermelons grown by the children are a welcome boost.

"It's an initiative in our El Chaparral community aimed at getting children and young people involved," said Victorina Alvarenga, a 32-year-old mother who joins her nine-year-old daughter Sheyla in the garden.

The vegetable patch is divided into plots named after the child in charge. One part of the garden is dedicated to providing food for the elderly.

"We're teaching children the value of solidarity so that when they're adults, they'll be good people," said Alvarenga.

A month after planting seeds, the first harvest produced huge radishes that were enthusiastically "ripped up" by the children.

A boy collects radishes in the El Chaparral community garden

"I'm delighted because I'm bringing fresh food to my family," said Sheyla proudly.

"I don't have any money but I bring healthy food."

The idea has caught on and in the neighboring village of Dimas Rodrigues a score of children have started another community garden.

"We want to produce our own food so we're not dependent on the market," said the group's leader, Pedro Diaz, 22.

Felicia Mijango, in charge of a union of rural communes, says the idea has its roots in the confinement of 10,000 Salvadoran refugees who fled to Ocotepeque in Honduras as civil war raged a decade ago.

The refugees couldn't leave their UN camp that was surrounded by barbed wire so they started growing their own fruit and vegetables.

Mijango says her union actively supports around 100 family and community allotments with help from American and Canadian NGOs.

Sao Paulo mayor: cancer survivor, COVID fighter

Yahoo – AFP, Paula RAMON,, May 23, 2020

Sao Paulo Mayor Bruno Covas has barely left city hall, where he has a bed in his
office, since he implemented the most aggressive stay-at-home policies in Brazil
(AFP Photo/NELSON ALMEIDA)

Sao Paulo (AFP) - Isolated in his office at city hall, Sao Paulo Mayor Bruno Covas is waging a war on two fronts: the cancer survivor is also leading the fight against coronavirus at its epicenter in Latin America.

It's safe to say February 26, 2020 is a day the 40-year-old mayor won't forget anytime soon: just as he was starting immunotherapy for lymphoma -- his third cancer in as many months -- he got the news that Latin America's first case of the new coronavirus had been confirmed in his city.

Covas had already beaten his two previous tumors into remission with chemotherapy -- one in his upper stomach, one in his liver -- and he reacted to the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic with the same grit.

"I never considered stepping down," he told AFP in an interview at his offices, wearing a tight-fitting face mask that matched his black outfit.

"The doctors never said I needed to."

Bald and gaunt from his chemo, Covas bears the physical signs of the battles he has waged. But he is working virtually around the clock to run the pandemic response in the hardest-hit city in Latin America, with 40,000 infections and more than 3,000 deaths so far.

Together with Sao Paulo state Governor Joao Doria, Covas implemented the most aggressive stay-at-home policies in Brazil, ordering the closure of schools and non-essential businesses on March 24.

That flew in the face of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who condemned the "hysteria" around the virus and accused state and local authorities of needlessly hurting the economy.

Covas says his biggest battle is getting citizens in Brazil's biggest city to respect the stay-at-home.

Sao Paulo is Brazil's economic capital, and the bustle of business and the street is what the city is all about.

Monitoring based on cell phone location data indicates that only about half its 12 million residents are respecting the stay-at-home -- a source of frustration for Covas.

"But at the same time, it's rewarding to see that six million people are respecting it," he said.

"We've been in quarantine for almost two months, so each day that passes we're asking people to make an extra sacrifice."

The mayor, who took office in April 2018, is leading by example.

Since the stay-at-home started, he has barely left city hall, where he has installed a bed in his office.

Aside from occasional hospital visits or meetings with officials, Covas remains inside his 15-storey headquarters.

A divorced father of one, he receives visits a few times a week from his 14-year-old son.

Other than that, he mainly spends his time working. He says he wants to be available 24 hours a day for the people of Sao Paulo.

With Brazil emerging as the latest flashpoint in the pandemic, with more than 21,000 deaths, and the situation not expected to peak here until June, Covas' stay at city hall probably won't be over soon.

Not about ideology

Covas, who hails from the center-right Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), is the grandson of a longtime Sao Paulo political bigwig, Mario Covas.

A lawyer by training, he was elected a state lawmaker at 26, then became deputy mayor under Doria. When his mentor stepped down to run for governor, Covas took over at city hall.

Covas acknowledged the challenges his administration has faced handling the pandemic, but defended its response.

"We're getting through the crisis in better shape than other major capitals," he said.

Local hospitals are near the breaking point, with 88 percent of intensive care beds full, but Covas said he was proud they had not been forced to turn anyone away.

He and his team are racing to reinforce the health care system. They have opened field hospitals that are caring for 2,500 COVID-19 patients and added hundreds of additional beds to existing hospitals.

He openly discusses the frustrations of watching Bolsonaro downplay the pandemic even as his city is being ravaged.

"The president doesn't care about medical protocols. That is doing a lot of damage," he said.

"This isn't a left-wing virus or a right-wing virus," he added.

"It's a scientific reality, and we have to confront it."

Amid fears of far higher Dorian death toll, islanders scramble to leave

Yahoo – AFP, Cyril JULIEN, September 7, 2019

Hurricane Dorian refugees arrive in the capital Nassau (AFP Photo/
Brendan Smialowski)

Marsh Harbour (Bahamas) (AFP) - Bahamians who lost everything in the devastating passage of Hurricane Dorian were scrambling Saturday to escape the worst-hit islands by sea or by air, after the powerful storm left at least 43 people dead with officials fearing a "significantly" higher toll.

A loosely coordinated armada of passenger planes, helicopters and both private and government boats and ships -- including redirected cruise liners -- was converging on the horribly battered Abaco Islands to help with evacuations, both to Nassau and to the US mainland.

But Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said that "Nassau cannot possibly accommodate" all the Abaco victims. He said plans were being hammered out for constructing tents and other temporary accommodations, the Nassau Guardian reported Saturday.

For now, he said, supplies of food and water were adequate, though several witnesses from Abaco contested that.

A cruise ship carrying 1,400 evacuees arrived Saturday in Riviera Beach, Florida, CNN reported.

More than 260 Abacos residents arrived Friday in Nassau on a government-chartered ferry. Another, carrying 200, was set to leave on Saturday.

The US Coast Guard and private organizations have been evacuating residents 

of Abaco and other islands to Nassau (AFP Photo/Hunter Medley)

Residents said conditions on the islands were brutal. They said the smell of unrecovered bodies, along with mounting piles of garbage, was oppressive and unsanitary.

Hundreds or even thousands of people were still missing, officials said, as search-and-rescue teams continued their grim search. Morticians with body bags were beginning to arrive.

Minnis said the death toll -- 35 so far in the Abacos and eight in Grand Bahama -- was likely to climb "significantly."

He called the loss of life "catastrophic and devastating."

The final death toll "will be staggering," Health Minister Duane Sands said earlier.

A UN World Food Program team estimated that 90 percent of buildings in Marsh Harbour were damaged.

UN relief officials said more than 70,000 people on Grand Bahama and Abaco were in need of assistance. The WFP was sending food and supplies.

The US Coast Guard, Britain's Royal Navy and private organizations have been helping evacuate island residents to Nassau, hampered by damaged piers and airport runways.

Hurricane Dorian left a deadly trail of destruction on Great Abaco Island (AFP

Photo/Adam DelGiudice)

The Coast Guard said Saturday, however, that all Bahamian ports had now reopened. It said it had deployed nine cutters to the islands and that six of its MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters had so far rescued 290 people.

'It's not right'

Chamika Durosier was waiting early Saturday at the Abaco airport. The island, she said, was unsafe.

"The home that we were in fell on us," she said. "We had to crawl -- got out crawling. By the grace of God we are alive."

She described the increasingly desperate plight of those left behind.

"People have no food. People have no water, and it's not right. They should have been gone.

"Dead bodies are still around and it's not sanitary."

At Marsh Harbour's commercial port, Miralda Smith, a Haitian national, had arrived overnight on foot and was waiting in sweltering heat with dozens of other evacuees for passage to Nassau.

"We have no water, no electricity -- we're dying," she said. "It's really catastrophic."

Waves crash on Rodanthe Pier as Hurricane Dorian hits Cape Hatteras in 

North Carolina on September 6 (AFP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Many evacuees were Haitian workers who had seen their makeshift homes in a shantytown known as The Mudd completely flattened.

Those who have made it to safety awaited news of loved ones.

Diane Forbes was desperately searching for her two sons among some 200 evacuees at a shelter in Nassau.

On Tuesday, when last she heard from them, her sons told her that "they were hungry, and the scent of the bodies, the dead, was really getting to them."

Dorian, a monstrous Category 5 hurricane when it raked through the Bahamas, was buffeting southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, on Saturday with tropical storm-force winds, the National Hurricane Center said at 11:00 am (1500 GMT).

The Canadian Hurricane Centre predicted a landfall near Halifax and issued hurricane warnings for parts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Earlier, Dorian brought flooding and power outages but no major damage to the coastal Carolinas and Virginia.

In the Bahamas, the scene was very different, as the newly homeless were growing frustrated at the slow speed of relief and evacuation efforts.

A shop floods in Rodanthe Sound as Hurricane Dorian hits Cape Hatteras 

(AFP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

"There's no gas station, no food stores, my job is gone," said Melanie Lowe of Marsh Harbour. She survived the storm packed in a two-bedroom apartment with 16 other people.

Hazmat suits and body bags

Arrangements were being made Saturday to care for the dead and account for the missing.

Mortuary workers in white hazmat suits, blue gloves and masks could be seen in Marsh Harbour carrying corpses in green body bags and loading them onto flatbed trucks.

President Donald Trump offered US support, adding in a video statement that "any cruise ship companies willing to act as stationary housing, etc., I am sure would be appreciated!"

At the Abaco airport on Saturday, Tanya McDermott was waiting with her husband and young son for a plane to Nassau.

With the injured given priority on outbound flights, they waited.

"We are going to wait around all day if we have to," Tanya McDermott said.

"We are going to hope for the best."

Mexico leader's humble air travel a security headache

Yahoo – AFP, Jennifer GONZALEZ COVARRUBIAS, February 19, 2019

Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador always travels by commercial
flights, even sitting in economy class (AFP Photo/Alfredo ESTRELLA)

Mexico City (AFP) - Accompanied only by five unarmed aides and a small collection of amulets, Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador makes police and flight attendants alike tremble when he embarks on air travel, always in economy class.

Lopez Obrador, known by his initials AMLO, stops for photos with everyone, allowing them to kiss, hug or even grab him by the waist.

"Of course, whatever photos you like," said the smiling president to a woman trying to snatch a photo with her smart phone as he walked to the plane ahead of a trip to Sinaloa, the dangerous drug-trafficking state made famous by narcotics kingpin Joaquim "El Chapo" Guzman.

AMLO's acquiescence sparked a near stampede as others swirled around the president looking for their own memento.

All the while, there was no security to push back the throngs.

Mexico's leftist leader has done away with the thousands of military escorts looking after the president and sent them to work "for the benefit of the people."

The presidential jet, a Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 bought for $218 million is now on sale in California. AMLO traveled to Sinaloa on a cramped Embraer Jet.

Even aboard a plane, Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes the 

time to pose for photos with other passengers, much to the chagrin of flight 

attendants (AFP Photo/Alfredo ESTRELLA)

"How can I board this plane when there's so much poverty in Mexico," AMLO had said about the Boeing Dreamliner.

Now he travels with a small retinue of aides headed by Daniel Asaf, a restauranter of Lebanese origin and former candidate for Mexico City's legislature.

'The worst'

In fact, none of AMLO's aides are security specialists, instead they are defined by their "loyalty."

Three women and two men spent most of the trip to Sinaloa shoving back reporters and asking travelers to move away after taking a selfie.

The security services may be in a fluster but AMLO is the most popular president in the country's history with an 80 percent approval rating, according to the last Mitofsky poll.

Part of that popularity came from his campaign promises to reduce his own salary and those of the government's top officials.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gained popularity during his election campaign

 by promising to reduce his salary and those of top government officials (AFP Photo/

Alfredo ESTRELLA)

However, Mexico City's airport police are less impressed with AMLO's humble availability.

"When he has to cross the entire airport, it's the worst," said an airport police officer who wished to remain anonymous.

"People pounce on him. If one day someone wants to do something to him we won't be able to stop them because he doesn't like being guarded.

"He can't continue like this, he has to use the VIP room."

On this journey, AMLO was heading to one of a part of Mexico infested with drug traffickers and violent gangs. But he has no fear of being attacked, believing himself protected by an assortment of talismans.

"I have a lot of protection, this is a shield," he told AFP, holding up an image of the "Sacred Heart" of Jesus.

Among his other protective amulets, AMLO carries a four leaf clover and a dollar given to him by a Mexican migrant.

Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he doesn't need the protection of 

the security services as he has a collection of talismans (AFP Photo/Alfredo ESTRELLA)

'It's awful'

For some passengers, having the president on their flight gives them a feeling of security.

Carmen Diaz, a 52-year-old housewife traveling to Sinaloa for a party, said she would have "never expected" to find herself on a flight with the president.

Although she worried it would be unsafe due to the number of people aboard, "it's the opposite because they're watching the flight closer."

But for air stewardess Alejandra Martinez, the flight is a headache.

"It's awful that he's come on my flight. People are ignoring the (safety) instructions, they're leaving their seats even during turbulence and the press don't understand that their cameras could become projectiles if something unexpected happens," she said.

"I hope he never travels with my family."

Upon landing at the Culiacan airport in Sinaloa, AMLO was met by throngs of supporters and angry widows of police officers killed in the fight against drug traffickers.

After all the commotion of his humble journey, AMLO had no time for the waiting masses, and was whisked away by the local governor's security detail.

VIDEO: The Colombian government has set up social centres to help Venezuelan migrants, where migrants receive toiletries, help with immigration matters, and even haircuts and vaccinations

VIDEO: The Colombian government has set up social centres to help Venezuelan migrants, where migrants receive toiletries, help with immigration matters, and even haircuts and vaccinations pic.twitter.com/a7PrcZcPSh

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 29, 2018

VIDEO: Chilean bishops hold extraordinary assembly in Valparaiso to discuss the sexual abuse scandal that has hit the institution, prompting the resignation of at least five bishops

VIDEO: Chilean bishops hold extraordinary assembly in Valparaiso to discuss the sexual abuse scandal that has hit the institution, prompting the resignation of at least five bishops pic.twitter.com/G5YP5QCVh1

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 31, 2018

Related Article: 

Pope accepts resignation of archbishop convicted of abuse cover-up

Last month Pope Francis accepted the resignation of five Chilean bishops amid

accusations of abuse and related cover-ups

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."