South America
Bolsonaro ‘will destroy democracy’ in Brazil if re-elected
LGBTQ, intersex activists back Lula ahead of Oct. 30 runoff
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers was on assignment in Brazil from Sept. 30-Oct. 11.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Michelle Seixas, the national political coordinator of Articulação Brasileira de Lésbicas (Brazilian Articulation of Lesbians), a group that advocates on behalf of lesbians in Brazil, was born in Complexo do Alemão, a complex of favelas in the northern part of Rio de Janeiro.
She spoke with the Washington Blade about her life, her work and Brazil’s presidential election on Oct. 10 during an interview at Espaço Democrático de União, Convivência, Apprendizagem e Prevenção (Democratic Space of Union, Coexistence, Learning and Prevention,) a community center in Complexo do Alemão known by the acronym EDUCAP that Prince Harry officially opened in 2012.
Local drug dealers built the soccer field that is next to EDUCAP. The Blade also saw public housing along one of Complexo do Alemão’s main streets that former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government built through its Programa Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life Program.)
“(President Jair) Bolsonaro to lesbian women in Brazil is the worst president in Brazil’s history,” Seixas told the Blade.
Mariah Rafaela Silva, a transgender woman of indigenous descent who works with the Washington-based International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, translated for Sexias.
She, like Seixas, lives in Complexo do Alemão.
“We not only went backwards in social public policy, but we also went backwards in basic human rights,” said Seixas, referring to Bolsonaro.
“We know that there are many people who support Lula,” added Seixas.
Seixas spoke with the Blade eight days after the presidential election’s first round, which took place on Oct. 2.
Da Silva defeated Bolsonaro by a 48.4-43.2 percent margin. They will face off in the presidential election’s second round on Oct. 30 because neither received a majority of votes.
Four of Bolsonaro’s previous Cabinet members — former Justice and Public Security Minister Sergio Moro, former Family and Human Rights Minister Damares Alves, former Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina and former Science and Technology Minister Marcos Prutes — on Oct. 2 won seats in the Brazilian Congress. São Paulo Municipal Councilwoman Erika Hilton and Belo Horizonte Municipal Councilwoman Duda Salabert on the same day became the first openly transgender congresswomen.
Bolsonaro, a member of the right-wing Liberal Party, represented Rio de Janeiro in the Brazilian Congress from 1991 until he took office in 2018.
The former Brazilian Army captain has faced sharp criticism because of his rhetoric against LGBTQ and intersex Brazilians, women, people of African and indigenous descent and other groups.
He has encouraged fathers to beat their sons if they think they are gay.
Bolsonaro during a 2019 press conference in the White House Rose Garden stressed his “respect of traditional family values.” Bolsonaro has expressed his opposition to “gender ideology,” supports legislation that would limit LGBTQ-specific curricula in Brazil’s schools and condemned a 2019 Brazilian Supreme Court ruling that criminalized homophobia and transphobia.
A Brazilian Federal Police investigator in August called for prosecutors to charge Bolsonaro with incitement for spreading false information about COVID-19 after he said people who are vaccinated against the virus are at increased risk for AIDS. Bolsonaro’s efforts to discredit the country’s electoral system have increased concerns that violence could erupt if he does not accept the election results if he loses to Da Silva, a member of the leftist Workers’ Party who was Brazil’s president from 2003-2010.
Moro, who was a judge before he joined Bolsonaro’s government, in 2017 sentenced Da Silva to 9 1/2 years in prison after his conviction on money laundering and corruption charges that stemmed from Operation Car Wash. The Supreme Court in November 2019 ordered Da Silva’s release.
Julian Rodrigues, who was the coordinator of the Workers’ Party’s National Working Group from 2006-2012, noted to the Blade during a previous interview that Da Silva in 2004 created the Health Ministry’s “Brazil without Homophobia” campaign. Rodrigues also highlighted Da Silva created the Culture Ministry’s Diversity Secretariat that, among other things, funded community centers and sought to make police officers and other law enforcement officials more friendly to LGBTQ and intersex people.
Da Silva during the campaign has publicly highlighted his support of LGBTQ and intersex rights.
“We know that the fight against prejudice and homophobia is a daily fight,” said Da Silva in a campaign video that Associaçao Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals), a Brazilian trans rights group known by the acronym ANTRA, shared on its Instagram page. “I have a lot of respect for all the gay, lesbian, bisexual, travestis and trans people who live in Brazil.”
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Hilton is among Da Silva’s more outspoken supporters. Lou Lou, a bar in Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema neighborhood, and other establishments in the country that are popular among LGBTQ and intersex Brazilians also indicate their support for Da Silva with prominently placed stickers.
Cláudio Nascimento, president of Grupo Arco-Íris de Cidadania LGBT (Rainbow LGBT Citizen Group), an LGBTQ and intersex rights group in Rio de Janeiro, on Oct. 9 handed the Blade a sticker that read, “no LGBT votes for Bolsonaro” (“Nenhum voto LGBT em Bolsonaro”) before he sat down for an interview at his office.
Nascimento said Bolsonaro’s government and the federal government “hasn’t done anything for the community.” Nascimento also stressed Bolsonaro’s comments against LGBTQ and intersex Brazilians and other minority groups.
“He has also made speeches,” Nascimento told the Blade. “He speaks against the LGBT community. It stimulates hatred, stimulates persecution and stimulates violence, discrimination.”
Nascimento said he supports Da Silva because he does not represent a threat to democracy.
“Our concern is that if Bolsonaro is elected, he will destroy democracy from within democracy,” said Nascimento.
Patricia Mannaro, a lawyer who co-founded Aliança Nacional LGBTI (National LGBTI Alliance), a national LGBTQ and intersex rights group, echoed Nascimento when she spoke with the Blade at a São Paulo coffee shop on Oct. 5.
Mannaro said human rights in Brazil will “continue dying” if Bolsonaro wins re-election.
Voters in Lins, a municipality in São Paulo state, in 2012 elected Edgar Souza as their mayor.
Souza, who is Brazil’s first openly gay mayor, agreed with Mannaro when he spoke with the Blade on Oct. 6 at his São Paulo office.
“I am not voting for Lula because I’m in love with Lula,” said Souza. “I have a lot of criticism of Lula and the PT (Workers’ Party,) but Lula does not threaten democracy. He respects democratic rule and I respect institutions. He respects the separation of powers.”
“Bolsonaro would threaten all of that,” added Souza.
Renato Viterbo, vice president of Parada LGBT+ de São Paulo (São Paulo LGBT+ Parade) on Oct. 5 noted to the Blade during an interview at his office that marriage equality and most other LGBTQ and intersex rights advances in Brazil have happened because of court rulings, as opposed to legislation.
Viterbo said these advances could come under threat if Bolsonaro wins a second term, in part, because his party on Oct. 2 gained seats in Congress. Viterbo also stressed Bolsonaro continues to garner support in Brazil because he reflects attitudes that persist in the country.
“We are a sexist, anti-Semitic, racist and xenophobic country,” said Viterbo. “Democracy will be threatened if this government is reelected.”
Venezuela
AHF client in Venezuela welcomes Maduro’s ouster
‘This is truly something we’ve been waiting for’ for decades
An AIDS Healthcare Foundation client who lives in Venezuela told the Washington Blade he welcomes the ouster of his country’s former president.
The client, who asked the Blade to remain anonymous, on Thursday said he felt “joy” when he heard the news that American forces seized Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, during an overnight operation on Jan. 3.
“This is truly something we’ve been waiting for for 26 or 27 years,” the AHF client told the Blade.
Hugo Chávez became Venezuela’s president in 1999. Maduro succeeded him in 2013 after he died.
“I’ve always been in opposition,” said the AHF client, who stressed he was speaking to the Blade in his personal capacity and not as an AHF representative. “I’ve never agreed with the government. When I heard the news, well, you can imagine.”
He added he has “high hopes that this country will truly change, which is what it needed.”
“This means getting rid of this regime, so that American and foreign companies can invest here and Venezuela can become what it used to be, the Venezuela of the past,” he said.
The AHF client lives near the Colombia-Venezuela border. He is among the hundreds of Venezuelans who receive care at AHF’s clinic in Cúcuta, a Colombian city near the Táchira River that marks the border between the two countries.
The Simón Bolívar Bridge on the Colombia-Venezuela border on May 14, 2019. (Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
The AHF client praised U.S. President Donald Trump and reiterated his support for the Jan. 3 operation.
“It was the only way that they could go,” he said.
The Venezuelan National Assembly on Jan. 4 swore in Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president, as the country’s acting president. The AHF client with whom the Blade spoke said he is “very optimistic” about Venezuela’s future, even though the regime remains in power.
“With Maduro leaving, the regime has a certain air about it,” he said. “I think this will be a huge improvement for everyone.”
“We’re watching,” he added. “The actions that the United States government is going to implement regarding Venezuela give us hope that things will change.”
Colombia
Colombians protest against Trump after he threatened country’s president
Tens of thousands protested the US president in Bogotá
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Tens of thousands of people on Wednesday gathered in the Colombian capital to protest against President Donald Trump after he threatened Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
The protesters who gathered in Plaza Bolívar in Bogotá held signs that read, among other things, “Yankees go home” and “Petro is not alone.” Petro is among those who spoke.
The Bogotá protest took place four days after American forces seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, during an overnight operation.
The Venezuelan National Assembly on Sunday swore in Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president, as the country’s acting president. Maduro and Flores on Monday pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges in New York.
Trump on Sunday suggested the U.S. will target Petro, a former Bogotá mayor and senator who was once a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement that disbanded in the 1990s. Claudia López, a former senator who would become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she wins Colombia’s presidential election that will take place later this year, is among those who criticized Trump’s comments.
The Bogotá protest is among hundreds against Trump that took place across Colombia on Wednesday.
Petro on Wednesday night said he and Trump spoke on the phone. Trump in a Truth Social post confirmed he and his Colombian counterpart had spoken.
“It was a great honor to speak with the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” wrote Trump. “I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future. Arrangements are being made between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign minister of Colombia. The meeting will take place in the White House in Washington, D.C.”
Colombia
Gay Venezuelan man who fled to Colombia uncertain about homeland’s future
Heberth Aguirre left Maracaibo in 2018
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — A gay Venezuelan man who has lived in Colombia since 2018 says he feels uncertain about his homeland’s future after the U.S. seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“On one hand I can feel happy, but on the other hand I feel very concerned,” Heberth Aguirre told the Washington Blade on Tuesday during an interview at a shopping mall in Bogotá, the Colombian capital.
Aguirre, 35, is from Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city that is the heart of the country’s oil industry.
He developed cultural and art initiatives for the Zulia State government.
“Little by little, I suddenly became involved in politics because, in a way, you had to be involved,” recalled Aguirre. “It was necessary to be involved because the regime often said so.”
“I basically felt like I was working for the citizens, but with this deeply ingrained rule we had to be on their side, on the side of the Maduro and (former President Hugo) Chávez regime,” he added.
Maduro in 2013 became Venezuela’s president after Chávez died.
“There are things I don’t support about the regime,” Aguirre told the Blade. “There are other things that were nice in theory, but it turned out that they didn’t work when we put them into practice.”
Aguirre noted the Maduro government implemented “a lot of laws.” He also said he and other LGBTQ Venezuelans didn’t “have any kind of guarantee for our lives in general.”
“That also exposed you in a way,” said Aguirre. “You felt somewhat protected by working with them (the government), but it wasn’t entirely true.”
Aguirre, 35, studied graphic design at the University of Zulia in Maracaibo. He said he eventually withdrew after soldiers, members of Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard, and police officers opened fire on students.
“That happened many times, to the point where I said I couldn’t keep risking my life,” Aguirre told the Blade. “It hurt me to see what was happening, and it hurt me to have lost my place at the university.”
Venezuela’s economic crisis and increased insecurity prompted Aguirre to leave the country in 2018. He entered Colombia at the Simón Bolívar Bridge near the city of Cúcuta in the country’s Norte de Santander Province.
“If you thought differently, they (the Venezuelan government) would come after you or make you disappear, and nobody would do anything about it,” said Aguirre in response to the Blade’s question about why he left Venezuela.
The Simón Bolívar Bridge on the Colombia-Venezuela border on May 14, 2019. (Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
Aguirre spoke with the Blade three days after American forces seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, during an overnight operation.
The Venezuelan National Assembly on Sunday swore in Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president, as the country’s acting president. Maduro and Flores on Monday pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges in New York.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday in a Truth Social post said Venezuela’s interim authorities “will be turning over between 30 and 50 million barrels of high quality, sanctioned oil, to the United States of America.”
“This oil will be sold at its market price, and that money will be controlled by me, as president of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States,” wrote Trump.
Trump on Sunday suggested the U.S. will target Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a former Bogotá mayor and senator who was once a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement that disbanded in the 1990s.
Petro has urged Colombians to take to the streets on Wednesday and “defend national sovereignty.” Claudia López, a former senator who would become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she wins Colombia’s presidential election that will take place later this year, is among those who criticized Trump’s comments.
“Let’s be clear: Trump doesn’t care about the humanitarian aspect,” said Aguirre when the Blade asked him about Trump. “We can’t portray him as Venezuela’s savior.”
Meanwhile, Aguirre said his relatives in Maracaibo remain afraid of what will happen in the wake of Maduro’s ouster.
“My family is honestly keeping quiet,” he said. “They don’t post anything online. They don’t go out to participate in marches or celebrations.”
“Imagine them being at the epicenter, in the eye of the hurricane,” added Aguirre. “They are right in the middle of all the problems, so it’s perfectly understandable that they don’t want to say anything.”
‘I never in my life thought I would have to emigrate’
Aguirre has built a new life in Bogotá.
He founded Mesa Distrital LGBTIQ+ de Jóvenes y Estudiantes, a group that works with migrants from Venezuela and other countries and internally placed Colombians, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aguirre told the Blade he launched the group “with the need to contribute to the general population, not just in Colombia.”
Aguirre met his husband, an American from California, at a Bogotá church in December 2020 during a Christmas event that SDA Kinship Colombia, an LGBTQ group, organized. A Utah judge virtually officiated their wedding on July 12, 2024.
“I love Colombia, I love Bogotá,” said Aguirre. “I love everything I’ve experienced because I feel it has helped me grow.”
He once again stressed he does not know what a post-Maduro Venezuela will look like.
“As a Venezuelan, I experienced the wonders of that country,” said Aguirre. “I never in my life thought I would have to emigrate.”
The Colombian government’s Permiso por Protección Temporal program allows Aguirre and other Venezuelans who have sought refuge in Colombia to live in the country for up to 10 years. Aguirre reiterated his love for Colombia, but he told the Blade that he would like to return to Venezuela and help rebuild the country.
“I wish this would be over in five years, that we could return to our country, that we could go back and even return with more skills acquired abroad,” Aguirre told the Blade. “Many of us received training. Many of us studied a lot. We connected with organizations that formed networks, which enriched us as individuals and as professionals.”
“Returning would be wonderful,” he added. “What we’ve built abroad will almost certainly serve to enrich the country.”
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