Her name is Tamara Adrián and she is the first transsexual deputy in Latin America, after being elected in the Venezuelan parliamentary elections in 2015. The 69-year-old activist for the rights of sexual minorities, respected lawyer and university professor, has once again been news, becoming today the ninth candidate for the opposition primaries, which will be held in Venezuela on October 22.
This was announced in Caracas by the United for Dignity (UPD) movement, made up of LGBTI and human rights activists, whose flag is inclusion and equality.
Tamara Adrián is a member of Voluntad Popular (VP), the political party of former political prisoner Leopoldo López, exiled today in Spain. The Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), in the hands of Chavismo, has not yet recognized her new identity, despite the fact that almost two decades have passed since her request.
“We were born with the premise of rescuing the dignity of Venezuelans in general, but fundamentally of the most vulnerable, the unrecognized and least respected minorities,” said the UPD representatives in a public appearance.
“So that no one is left behind,” insisted Tamara Adrián, who from the beginning has been committed to “breaking down the barriers that society imposes on certain people.”
The circumstance arises that VP would, in this way, have two candidates for the internal opposition competition, since Juan Guaidó, former interim president of the country, will also be from the party. Until now, the candidate who is again subjected to government threats has added the support of small parties, such as the Marxist Red Flag, Liberal Force and Emerging People.
The most prominent candidates to date are the right-wing María Corina Machado, who is leading the polls; the presidential candidate in 2012 and 2013, Henrique Capriles; and the outsider Benjamín Rausseo, a popular humorist known as the Count of the Guácharo.
Also from the game are Delsa Solórzano, from Encuentro Ciudadano, and Andrés Velásquez, from La Causa R, who during the four years of challenging Maduro supported Guaidó. The Christian Democrat César Pérez Vivas and the Social Democrat Carlos Prosperi, from Acción Democrática, are also on the electoral starting grid.
It remains to be seen if Manuel Rosales, governor of the state of Zulia, will join the list of pre-candidates, as well as who Fuerza Vecinal will bet on, which brings together several mayors but who are under the government’s scrutiny for the activities of businessmen designated by corruption in the Caracas municipality of Baruta.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project