This week we welcome Tamara Adrián and hear about her experiences as a prominent Venezuelan opposition figure, now a candidate in this year’s opposition primaries, deeply engaged both in domestic and transnational civil society and institutional politics.
Since the early 2000s, Tamara has been a prominent figure in the political arena. She is the founder and director of DIVERLEX – Diversity and Equality Through Law, and her activism extends across Latin America and beyond. She has also worked with the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and as a special adviser on human rights for the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization.
As LGBTQ+ Victory Institute notes “she has served on numerous LGBTQ+ boards, organized days of recognition for LGBTQ+ rights and movements for equality and challenged anti-trans laws in the Venezuelan courts, as well as being an active participant in many of the legal movements in the country addressing LGBTQ+ equality.”
She started her academic journey at Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas and got a doctorate in law from the Panthéon-Assas University in Paris.
And, of course, it’s important to mention that she is Venezuela’s first transgender member of parliament.
At the moment, Tamara is running in a newly established political movement known as Unidos por la Dignidad (United for Dignity). As Carlos Egaña notes in the NACLA report, the movement gained attention in 2022 when its members chained themselves to benches near Venezuela’s national human rights institution, Defensoría del Pueblo to draw attention to the issue of violence against LGBTQI+ individuals and to advocate for proper legal recognition.
Tamara has repeatedly voiced the importance of changing the everyday language as well. In another interview she underlined “In the past, in this Assembly, people have been calling each other ‘mariconson,’ which is ‘faggot,’ basically. It’s unacceptable to say that in a Parliament.” underlining the promotion of respect. Her electoral campaign builds on this criticism and promotes inclusion for “people with disabilities, women, senior citizens, civil servants, LGBTIQ+ people, people of African descent, indigenous people, any group that, for whatever reason, has been or may be left behind.”
There are many issues to talk about and I start with my first question.
To embark on our discussion, I would like to start by asking you about your political journey. How did you start your political journey and what influenced your decision to join Popular Will? What were the obstacles you faced in your political journey? How did you bridge your involvement in civil society, academia and your political party? (A bit of a long question!)
I noticed that! I might be one of the few who haven’t made a swift transition from civil society to academia or political activity. Instead, I’ve integrated these three activities, also adding a fourth, which is legal activity. I don’t see any contradiction in doing so. I understand that civil society, including organized civil society in NGOs, is indispensable to promote human rights, but they have a limit—their limit. I was talking about this in a recent interview
There’s a moment when you notice that politicians perceive civil society as an actor that is not on their level, that they are superior to civil society. When civil society wants something, they believe they should come to a politician and convince them to take up the fight and bear the associated costs. Most politicians feel they are on a higher level than civil society.
I started to realise this, this was around 2008 or 2007 due to an encounter with Leopoldo Lopez. I went to his office to convince him to promote a local ordinance against discrimination. He told me, “Yes, I totally agree with that. I might promote that. But why do you come to me and ask me to do something that you should be doing, could be yourself? You have the ability and possibility to become a politician and engage directly in those fights from a political point of view, instead of seeking a politician’s solidarity.”
Before Venezuela’s descent into legal instability and the erosion of the judiciary’s independence, we employed strategic litigation as an activist approach. I was actively involved in numerous litigations around human rights. That is why I think there is no contradiction between these roles. Hence, I remain an integral part of civil society, academia, legal practice, and political activism.
Reflecting on my political journey, it commenced around 2008 when I started engaging with the Popular Will. Became a founder of the movement in 2009. I had a place on the party’s board of directors. By 2015, after years on the board, national elections arrived. I was second in the Caracas line up. I received more ballots than the first candidate. However, due to Venezuela’s voting structure, he was first due in the list voting structure, where each voter selects a party list rather than an individual.
Of course, for a trans woman or a woman in general, being a part of politics in any country in the world is not easy. You have to fight against machismo, and you have to find ways to be respected that are often taken for granted for men. You are not taken into account as often as you would like. As a joke or as an anecdote about this, I’ve been part of the party’s board for many years. I’m a very good political analyst and studying political strategy for many years, and that gives me knowledge and a perspective that allows me to foresee what might happen years before it actually does. I can identify different alternatives and start saying to other people, “Listen, let’s be cautious because we might face this obstacle or this problem. The people in power might take these different actions.” However, the response for many years was often, “No, that cannot happen in Venezuela. That’s not the way things will go.” They usually concentrate on a specific outcome they wish to see and ignore other possibilities.
There was an instance, months or even years later, things happened the way I had predicted. Months before those events, I had discussed them with other members of the board. I warned them about potential dangers, but some disregarded those warnings. They ignored the risks. When the events unfolded, I was there to offer an alternative course of action. This ability to anticipate and strategize emerged from years of contemplating different outcomes and potential obstacles.
To conclude this answer, there are two aspects of being part of a minority. On one hand, being a trans woman, and on the other hand, being a woman in general. This creates a triple layer of miscommunication that isn’t easy to overcome. However, it’s also acknowledged that you are unfortunately right in many instances where others didn’t see the risks or dangers. We sometimes move forward without recognizing those risks, and others don’t pay attention. When those risks materialize, I’m there to present an alternative action plan.
We talked about the recent elections and opposition failure in Turkey recently. From time to time the opposition in Venezuela has faced difficulties in projecting a unified stance against the government. Do you believe that internal fractures within opposition parties and leadership have undermined the opposition’s capacity to collaborate effectively against the regime? How do you evaluate the outing of Juan Guaidó as the “Leader of Venezuela’s Opposition” ?
It’s really interesting to see how different countries approach political activities. In Venezuela, the situation is even more complex because many parties do not receive any government support, quite the opposite. Many parties have been established, but over time, particularly in the late 1990s, the traditional political parties faced a crisis. With Chavez’s rise to power, he symbolized anti-politics, and this sentiment led to the dismantling of the traditional parties. AD, COPEI, Communist Party, MAS were the traditional parties were dismantled with the movement of anti-politics. They promised a lot but did not deliver. Chavez capitalized on the view that all politicians were corrupt, political parties were corrupt organizations, and this sentiment was even supported by media and academics. This eventually led to the decline of democracy and the political parties in the 1990s.
During this time, the professional activity in Venezuela became critiquing the country and its institutions. Many people became a disbeliever of democracy. This anti-politics movement was led by a longing for the past, where people remembered the 60s and 70s as a time of prosperity. Political parties were seen as corrupted organisations. The mistrust and negative sentiment towards politicians paved the way for anti-politics to thrive. This is the context of the situation we are in today.
About the internal factors within the opposition. During the period I mentioned, traditional political parties faced a crisis of identity and credibility. Chavez represented an anti-politics sentiment. That is where you see new parties established with new ideologies and motivations. There are a couple of parties that became crucial Un Nuevo Tiempo, Primero Justicia, and Voluntad Popular. After the emergence of new parties in the mid-2000s, motivations varied greatly. Those who were traditionalists sought to regain privileges while others aspired to create a new Venezuela. The latter group saw an opportunity to reshape the country from the ground up, envisioning a more inclusive, democratic, and dynamic Venezuela. However, you see that some of the traditionalist candidates have a mentality, something like “Make Venezuela Great Again!” What we are proposing is the opposite. We are saying we have the opportunity to start a new country, starting from ashes. We only have ashes. We can be a country for the 21st century. This outlook aims to create a vision that does not solely focus on political cycles and economic difficulties, extending its vision to encompass social, cultural, economic, and environmental issues.
In this context, left, center, center-left and right we are all together. That is one of the reasons why it is hard to create a stable coalition. The only thing we have in common is to get rid of the regime and re-establish democracy. Our common ground lies in the aspiration for democracy and the restoration of political parties. However, we don’t currently possess a joint political project for a new society; we are forced to be together, we are not convinced of the way things should go the day after the election.
I have my project; I’ve worked to provide a comprehensive plan—a detailed roadmap. This approach extends into various sectors, including oil, banking, and new investments. While I remain committed to this plan, others might offer more generalized, vague promises or some provide more structured visions. My plan is also clear and easy to understand.
Going back to understanding the state of the opposition in Venezuela, the opposition faces challenges beyond ideological differences, pressures by the government and just recently Maduro appointed a new board of directors to the Communist Party because they were becoming more critical. This has also contributed to the feeling of despair that was existent, people were thinking like “we will never get rid of the regime.” There were protests in 2017 and moments of despair and we underestimated the role of the military in establishing democracy.
Overall, in pragmatic sense, our focus must encompass all aspects of promoting democracy. This core objective serves as our unifying force. We unite on the urgency of establishing a robust separation of powers and reinstating traditional safeguards, re-establishing the rule of law, and ensuring that democratic processes are upheld.
Secondly, we hold a collective belief in the significance of transparency and accountability. This entails the reinstatement of budgeting procedures we did not have a budget for years. Transparency further extends to public contracts, fostering a system where every aspect of public dealings is open.
Another area of agreement lies in the recognition of the dire state of public services. Essentials like electricity, running water, and access to the internet, healthcare, education, everything is destroyed. The coalition should be around that. My plan builds on this. As I said it first, it outlines economic development. This approach is complemented by the second layer, social inclusion and the third is addressing environmental concerns. This reflects the commitment to creating a nation fit for the 21st century.
For years, you have been a vocal advocate against the ongoing human rights violations in Venezuela. In a recent report rights organisation Provea underlined the existence of what can be termed as “state homophobia” in the country, shedding light on the situation where individuals are detained based on their sexual orientation. You have underlined in a recent interview Chavismo’s relationship with LGBTQ rights. What factors do you believe drive the regime’s crackdown on LGBTQ rights?
A quarter of a century ago when this regime came to power there were no rights in any country equal marriage, equal rights, protection from discrimination and it was very easy at that moment for a group of LGTBI people to say under the revolution we will be equal, we have rights, we will be there will be taken into account and will be part of the power that never happened. Since 2003 when reality started, they started to use propaganda to hide reality and that is why since 2003-2004 data has been officially hidden. If you want to know how many how many early pregnancies in Venezuela you will not find it if you want to know how many people live with HIV you will not find it, if you want to know how many persons were murdered last year in Venezuela you will not find it. I mean because are they created in the propaganda, a Disneyland country malnutrition. Lack of rights, discrimination, murder and all this is hidden officially hidden that’s where NGOs got into the process of evaluating the situation. They provide the data that is not available from the government. There are still a group called NGGOs. The second g is governmental. They are not real activists and do an activism job and it is a job of propaganda.
Another point is that we did not participate in the 2005 elections and the National Assembly was 100% Chavista 100% and around 40% were Evangelicals. As well as the president of the Supreme National Justice, Electoral Council. They have been politically very active. Last year when they (government) realised that only had around 13-18% of popular will to the to the next elections and that’s their limit in this moment 18% they started again engaging with the Evangelical churches. Maduro appointed his older son to run a programme called “My Well Equipped Church” that theoretically has 4 percent of the budget which is higher than health and education. These churches are part of the worst section that is very fundamentalist and traditionalist. They are fighting against LGTB rights, women’s rights. So the first reason why we haven’t had any advancement in Venezuela it’s the presence of Evangelical churches.
The second one is that we are also under a military system. More than 50% of the ministers are from the military, active now, more than 96 per cent of the presidents of state-owned companies are from the military including all the basic industries and PDVSA. They are not very open to sexual diversity.
Any final comments on how the campaign is going?
My presence in the media is much higher than the other candidates. I have a lot of interviews every week, I have at least 5-6 new interviews and the consequence of that without money I’ve been writing in all of the surveys and now I am in the high third of the 13 candidates and they do not understand how do I do that. The reason why is that I do not talk to people with the way you think people should be addressed. People that might not have the information but you are under the obligation to give them the information not to impose your points of view on them but to allow them to take a decision of their own. That is the way I do it. In my experience in the past two months has been that every time I go to a radio, popular radio its live and there are comments 100% of the comments the 100% are on by saying thank you for talking to us like that thank you for basically respecting us. I think this is creating a difference.
* You can follow Tamara via her twitter account https://twitter.com/TamaraAdrian
**This interview has been shortened and edited.
Begum Zorlu