Women defense ministers chip at Latin America's macho image
Source: Reuters
By Hilary Burke BUENOS AIRES, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Military coups and murderous dictatorships once plagued Latin America and the region has a tradition of macho, charismatic strongmen. But women are increasingly giving orders on matters of defense. In the last five years, five South American countries have named women to head their defense ministries for the first time: Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina and Ecuador. These appointments underscore women's progress in recent years in the region, while also reflecting greater political control over the armed forces and the changed role of the military. "This is indicative of a different vision of the armed forces (...) with improved civil-military relations and much more civilian control," said Peter DeShazo, Americas program director at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The naming of women ministers is symbolic of that process," he said. In 2002 Chile became the first Latin American country to appoint a female defense minister: current President Michelle Bachelet. A medical doctor, Bachelet came from a military family and had studied strategic affairs. But she was also an opponent of Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 military dictatorship -- whose regime jailed and tortured her father, an air force general. As president, Bachelet named economist Vivianne Blanlot as defense minister. Blanlot impassively faced the jeers of Pinochet supporters at his military funeral in December. In Argentina and Uruguay, where military rulers also killed leftist dissidents in the 1970s and 1980s, former human rights lawyers are now running the defense ministries. And they both happen to be women. In these three countries, as in much of South America, left-leaning governments are in place and advocating human rights and more gender equality. "This is part of the new, fashionable trend of center-left governments in Latin America," said Fredy Rivera, a security expert at the Ecuador branch of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO). 'MATERNAL HEARTS'? As democracies took better hold in recent decades, the number of lingering border disputes in Latin America dropped and military cooperation among countries increased. Military uprisings and bloody crackdowns on dissidents are no longer accepted internationally -- or encouraged. "The idea of possible bellicose conflicts between Latin American countries is not what motivates the armed forces in the region but instead, the military is seen as a tool of the state," said Enrique Obando, an academic and top aide to Peruvian Defense Minister Allan Wagner. In Ecuador, the military has played a part in the ouster of three presidents in the last decade by publicly withdrawing its support when street protests erupted. But it is also a popular institution that helps with development and infrastructure projects. Leftist President Rafael Correa named former teacher Guadalupe Larriva as the Andean country's first female defense minister. She died in a helicopter collision last week, just nine days after taking office. "It's important for the ministry to be headed by a woman. Guadalupe's maternal heart was able to do more than the strong hand of the generals," Correa said before naming another woman, university professor Lorena Escudero, to the post on Tuesday. In Colombia -- where the cocaine trade has helped fuel a four-decade conflict involving the government, Marxist rebels and rightist paramilitary groups -- Marta Lucia Ramirez took the helm of the defense ministry in 2002. Ramirez told Reuters she faced resistance and skepticism among some military leaders during her 15-month term, at the end of which she resigned. But she says her initiatives helped boost military and police forces throughout the country and led to a sharp drop in violence. "We showed that firmness and determination in the fight for stronger institutions, the protection of the citizenry and the fight against crime and terrorism is not the exclusive realm of men," Ramirez said. (Additional reporting by Alonso Soto in Quito and Conrado Hornos in Montevideo)
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