South America
Lima Pride march participants send message to Peruvians
More than 50,000 marchers demanded equal rights
LIMA, Peru — Not even the gray skies of Lima could dim the vibrant festivities of the Pride march in Peru’s capital on July 1.
This year marked Lima’s 21st annual Pride parade and organizers told the Washington Blade it was the biggest yet. More than 50,000 Peruvians marched through the historic streets of the city center dancing with drums, flags and posters. But for some at the march, Pride this year took on a different tone.
The theme of this year’s march was “Pride is Democracy.” A huge screen on the stage at the center of the Pride festivities had a message which said: “Pride is democracy: For a true democracy with social justice and representation.”
With this theme in mind, most of the people who spoke to the Blade talked about the state of LGBTQ and intersex rights in Peru and their fight to maintain and improve Peru’s democracy.
“This year, more than eight trans women have been murdered in a truly ruthless way,” said Leila Heurta, the director and founder of Feminas Peru, an NGO dedicated to the empowerment of transgender women. “And that is why we can’t forget the political side of the march. That’s why the motto of this year’s march is: without pride, there is no democracy.”
While Peru is a democracy, it is one of the few countries on the continent that offers zero legal recognition for same-sex couples. Further, as many of the marchers pointed out, police often fail to investigate the deaths of murdered trans women or arrest the culprits.
Jorge Apolaya, one of the organizers of this year’s march, told the Blade he believes Peru’s democracy is backsliding.
“[This year’s march] takes place in a year in which we feel that there are more and more setbacks regarding the political situation of the country,” said Apolaya. “Our democracy is getting weaker and weaker. It is very important for us that we can live in a democracy, because only in a democracy can we demand respect for the human rights of LGBT people.”
Despite the lack of rights and legal protections for LGBTQ and intersex people in Peru, many marchers seemed optimistic about their future.
Steve Arnao, a 36-year-old doctor, attended the march with his boyfriend.
“I see a change that is slowly taking place in Peru,” he told the Blade. “But it is important that each year, we join the march and continue fighting for our rights.”
The battle for LGBTQ and intersex rights in Peru is steep.
According to a 2020 Ipsos survey, only 38 percent of Peruvians were in support of civil unions for same-sex couples — seven percentage points higher than a similar survey in 2014, but still nowhere close to a majority of the country.
A 2023 survey from Ipsos revealed that 98 percent of LGBTQ and intersex people surveyed were either “extremely” or “very” dissatisfied with “the role of the State in guaranteeing rights of diverse families/LGBTIQA+ people.” Fifty-six percent of respondents reported having experienced discrimination.
“We will never lose hope,” says Apolaya. “Even with this Congress, as part of civil society and as part of the social fabric of this country, we will continue demanding that the minimum of democracy that we have persists and that we do not lose it.”
Another prominent group of attendees at the march is one that has been steadily increasing in Peru over the last few years: Venezuelan immigrants. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, Peru is the second-largest recipient of Venezuelans and the largest host country of Venezuelan asylum seekers worldwide. Peru hosts more than one million Venezuelans, with most of them living in the capital.
Therefore, many LGBTQ and intersex Venezuelans joined Lima’s Pride parade. One of those Venezuelans was Mariangel Rodriguez. Despite living in Lima for nine years, Rodriguez hasn’t always felt comfortable in LGBTQ and intersex spaces in Peru.
“I think part of my concern about not participating in the previous marches was related to the fact that I’m a minority within a minority,” said Rodriguez. “Being a woman, a migrant who comes from a very hard socio-political context … this has transformed the course of my life.”
Rodriguez went on to describe her experiences with discrimination in Peru.
“In many parts of Peru, it is widespread to see migrants as something negative,” said Rodriguez. “And well, in the past, being a Venezuelan person, obviously I have felt the need to protect and take care of myself by avoiding the marches. But generally, this march has meant something very important to me, not only because it was the first time I went, but also because I saw how many things have evolved in such a short time.”
Despite homophobia and transphobia coming from both the left and right in Peru, many activists have noticed a change in attitudes toward LGBTQ and intersex people, especially among the younger generation.
On the sidelines of the march, one mother held a sign which read: “My son has filled my life with colors.” She told the Blade that her only wish for her 18-year-old child is for him to live his life in the way he wants and for him to be happy.
Colombia
Gay Venezuelan opposition leader: Country’s future uncertain after Maduro ouster
Yendri Velásquez fled to Colombia in 2024 after authorities ‘arbitrarily detained’ him
A gay Venezuelan opposition leader who currently lives in Colombia says his country’s future is uncertain in the wake of now former President Nicolás Maduro’s ouster.
The Washington Blade spoke with Yendri Velásquez on Thursday, 12 days after American forces seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, during an overnight operation.
Maduro and Flores on Jan. 5 pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges in New York. The Venezuelan National Assembly the day before swore in Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president, as the country’s acting president.
Velásquez, who lives in the Colombian capital of Bogotá, described the events surrounding Maduro’s ouster as “very confusing.”
“It was a very surprising thing that left me in shock,” Velásquez told the Blade. “We also thought, at least from the perspective of human rights, that the United States was going to respect international law and not go to the extreme of bombing and extracting Maduro.”
“Other questions also arise,” he added. “What could have been done? What else could have been done to avoid reaching this point? That is the biggest question posed to the international community, to other countries, to the human rights mechanisms we established before Trump violated international law, precisely to preserve these mechanisms and protect the human rights of Venezuelan people and those of us who have been forced to flee.”
Velásquez three years ago founded the Venezuelan Observatory of LGBTIQ+ Violence. He also worked with Tamara Adrián, a lawyer who in 2015 became the first openly transgender woman elected to the Venezuelan National Assembly, for more than a decade.
Members of Venezuela’s military counterintelligence agency, known by the Spanish acronym DGCIM, on Aug. 3, 2024, “arbitrarily detained” Velásquez as he was trying to leave the country to attend a U.N. human rights event in Geneva.
Velásquez told the Blade he was “forcibly disappeared” for nearly nine hours and suffered “psychological torture.” He fled to Colombia upon his release.
Two men on Oct. 14, 2025, shot Velásquez and Luis Peche Arteaga, a Venezuelan political consultant, as they left a Bogotá building.
The assailants shot Velásquez eight times, leaving him with a fractured arm and hip. Velásquez told the Blade he has undergone multiple surgeries and has had to learn how to walk again.
“This recovery has been quite fast, better than we expected, but I still need to finish the healing process for a fractured arm and complete the physical therapy for the hip replacement I had to undergo as a result of these gunshots,” he said.
María Corina Machado, who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, and other Venezuelan opposition leaders said Maduro’s government targeted Velásquez and Peche. Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his government also condemned the attack.
Colombian authorities have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the attack.
Velásquez noted to the Blade he couldn’t sleep on Jan. 3 because “of the aches and pains” from the shooting. He said a friend who is “helping me out and looking after my things” was the one who told him about the operation the U.S. carried out to seize Maduro and Flores.
“He said, ‘Look at this! They’re bombing Caracas! And I was like, ‘What is this?'” recalled Velásquez.
White House ‘not necessarily’ promoting human rights agenda
Velásquez noted Rodríguez “is and forms part of the mechanisms of repression” that includes DGCIM and other “repressive state forces that have not only repressed, but also tortured, imprisoned, and disappeared people simply for defending the right to vote in (the) 2024 (election), simply for protesting, simply for accompanying family members.” Velásquez told the Blade that “there isn’t much hope that things will change” in Venezuela with Rodríguez as president.
“Let’s hope that countries and the international community can establish the necessary dialogues, with the necessary intervention and pressure, diplomatically, with this interim government,” said Velásquez, who noted hundreds of political prisoners remain in custody.
He told the Blade the Trump-Vance administration does not “not necessarily” have “an agenda committed to human rights. And we’ve seen this in their actions domestically, but also in their dealings with other countries.”
“Our hope is that the rest of the international community, more than the U.S. government, will take action,” said Velásquez. “This is a crucial moment to preserve democratic institutions worldwide, to preserve human rights.”
Velásquez specifically urged the European Union, Colombia, Brazil, and other Latin American countries “to stop turning a blind eye to what is happening and to establish bridges and channels of communication that guarantee a human rights agenda” and to try “to curb the military advances that the United States may still be considering.”
Velásquez told the Blade he also plans to return to Venezuela when it is safe for him to do so.
“My plan will always be to return to Venezuela, at least when it’s no longer a risk,” he said. “The conditions aren’t right for me to return because this interim government is a continuation of Maduro’s government.”
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers was on assignment in Bogotá, Colombia, from Jan. 5-10.
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.”
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