Demands, desires and agendas: Notes from the Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Conference

Thousands of Salvadoran women’s organizations and collectives marched on November 25th in San Salvador under the inclusive slogan "United, resisting and advancing." Delegations from the 15h Latin American Feminist Conference joined the march. Photo: Lizbeth Hernández.

Reportage • Melissa Amezcua • December 1, 2023 • Read in Spanish

Two very different international gatherings were held in Nayib Bukele's El Salvador within a single week: the Miss Universe pageant and the Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Conference. 

This was a strategic calculation, according Morena Herrera, a prominent figure in the Salvadoran feminist movement. It meant that organizers would not need to worry that the government might bar feminists and activists from other countries from entering El Salvador. If international contestants were allowed into the country for the beauty pageant, it followed that all women would be able to enter. 

And thus nearly two thousand feminists from around the world arrived at an all-inclusive resort on the Salvadoran coast to celebrate the 15th Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Conference (EFLAC, in its Spanish initials), after a six-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic. 

It was the second time El Salvador played host to one of the most emblematic meetings in the recent history of Latin American—and institutional—feminism. The last time was thirty years ago. This year, the EFLAC turned 41, and it was organized by women who had survived the war together with the younger feminists who followed in their footsteps. The first EFLAC was held in Colombia, in response to the murder of the Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic. 

The latest iteration of the EFLAC took place as San Salvador was festooned with the colors of the national flag for the beauty pageant. International participants arrived at a renovated airport filled with souvenirs celebrating President Nayib Bukele, the newest iteration of the masculine hero figure. Bukele claims he’s still "cool," even while opposing the feminist movement's demands. These include the right to sexual diversity and human rights, such as the freedom of expression. Today, Bukele is known globally for promoting a program of social cleansing with racist overtones. 

It was due to security concerns that organizers decided to hold the EFLAC at the Decameron Hotel, two hours from the capital. They felt that there are no public spaces in the country where this type of meeting could be held at the current juncture, as it is considered to be linked to the political opposition. They tried to host the gathering at the public University of El Salvador, but the regime commandeered the facilities and turned them into the press headquarters for the Miss Universe pageant. 

Indeed, the loss of democratic liberties and the advance of fundamentalisms in Latin America and the Caribbean were among the topics raised with the greatest sense of urgency.

Various women expressed that while rightwing victories affect the entire population, they are particularly damaging to women's rights, including the right to abortion, whose decriminalization is a relatively recent triumph for the feminist movement in some countries in the region. El Salvador, however, has yet to decriminalize abortion.

The women who spoke during assemblies said that the countries where democracy is regressing are also seeing an increase in sexism, misogyny, populism, homophobia, lesbophobia, transphobia and military power. 

Sonia Correa, a feminist researcher from Brazil, suggested that the advance of new fundamentalisms in the region are aftereffects of coloniality and extractivism and, citing Rita Segato, of neoliberal "landlordism." 

Contemporary ultra-right movements in Latin America differ from those that existed a half a century ago, having transformed over the past decade. Over that period, they gained the ability to create influence from below, becoming a rightwing with a strong presence at the level of the street. "They read Gramsci, and achieved what Pablo Stefanoni would call a 'Gramscian turn to the right'," said Correa, evoking the theorist’s concept of political action and hegemony.   

The situation in Argentina, following the election of right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as president, was widely discussed. What this type of persona needs to govern, according to those who spoke, is a functional political cacophony that mobilizes emotions and captures the electorate with a flexible discourse that responds to the context of the times. This allows us to begin to understand the alliance between right-wing politicians, who use anti-feminism in their electoral campaigns, and various churches in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Salvadoran feminist Morena Herrera explained the methods of this kind of regime, which is on the rise around the world. She recalled how it was feminists who were the first to shout "Bukele is a dictator!” in the streets. This prompted a cynical response from the President, who acknowledged being a dictator but said he was the "coolest dictator." Her anecdote brought a ripple of outrage to the surface among those gathered in the hotel’s convention center. 

Herrera urged the feminists in attendance to stop analyzing politics through a prism of left and right ideologies. Instead, she said, it is time to recognize that those who are winning elections are doing so not because of their ideological stance per se but because they are able to change the discourse. In this new scenario, citizens feel like they are choosing between the forces of the past—the same as always (on the left or right)—or voting for the future, represented by the promise of technotopia, the illusion that technology (bitcoins, in the Salvadoran case) will save the country from poverty, even if these promises aren’t kept. All this, according to Herrera, is fuelled by the media's need for public spectacle. 

Paraguayan feminist and human rights expert Line Bareiro made one of the most radical proposals at the EFLAC by engaging in an exercise of self-critique, noting how in recent years feminists have rarely questioned the structure of the state. Even with obligatory gender quotas and increasing representation of women and dissidents in positions of power, social inequality persists.  

There was another tense moment when a representative of UN Women took the microphone to give a speech. She was booed with shouts of "Free Palestine!" Two Brazilian women with a Palestinian flag burst onto the podium during the closing plenary.   

The EFLAC participants argued for emphasizing the importance of historical memory, specifically the sharing of knowledge regarding the failure of militarist models in other countries in the region, as well as intercontinental solidarity and a return to collectivity. 

Self-organized activities during the 15th EFLAC, which was hosted by Salvadoran feminists. The agenda included a variety of issues including abortion, sexual and gender diversity, the ultra right, spirituality, sex work, sports, art and more. Photo: Lizbeth Hernández.

Organizing, questioning, and standing up

The program included about 120 self-organized activities convened by the organizations and civil associations present. There were also over a dozen assemblies. The intensity of all these simultaneous activities was too much for the hotel's logistics, and attendees were unable to attend more than three activities, in addition to the recreational activities, all taking place within the sprawling resort. The attempt to engage all the relevant issues, even if often in a fleeting way, infused the event with a feeling of urgency characteristic of our times. 

The event’s thematic pillars were feminist care, anti-racism, intersectionality, lesbian feminism, urban resistance, women's education and other issues, but concern with the advance of the right wing seemed to dominate the agenda. Multiple talks dealt with the situation of political prisoners in Nicaragua and the case of Beatriz Garcia, who died after a clandestine abortion in El Salvador, where abortion is prohibited in all circumstances. The mining occupation in Panama, the latent risk in Argentina following the election of Milei, military intervention in Haiti and the genocide in Palestine were also discussed. 

This was the first EFLAC that included the participation of a group who use feminist soccer as a means to occupy and defend territory and challenge gender mandates in an area where women still enjoy little equality: sports. 

In the closing assembly, it was announced that the next EFLAC meeting will be held in Haiti in 2026. Key points for consideration include the experiences of women journalists and communicators, the proposal that feminists should begin to center on May 1st protests in each country as part of the economic struggle for life and not profit, the recognition of diversities, including trans children, elder feminists and younger women. 

Within the sea of positioning and protests, it was reported that the 2023 EFLAC cost just over one million dollars, and was funded by 24 organizations. Despite repeated demands, the issue of funding for the feminist movement from global north countries and political organizations was avoided, at least in the general assemblies. It seemed to be taken for granted that the only way to achieve feminist advocacy in the political arena is vis-a-vis major funders. 

Feminist intellectual Francesca Gargallo made a similar observation following EFLAC in Mexico in 1987, when she noted how feminists appeared more interested in dialoguing with institutions than with other women. Gargallo said that is when the NGOization of feminism began. With few exceptions, in the 2023 meeting, yet again, each organization attended the assemblies that addressed the themes it works on and that corresponded to its funding sources.

The deepest bonds built at the EFLAC were likely forged outside of the official program, in discussions that occurred at the endless buffet tables, around the resort's pools, on the soccer fields or during musical performances. In these moments, it felt possible to build organizations of women facilitated by global hyperconnectivity, with the promise of creating a regional network of support. 

The final activity of the meeting was a trip to San Salvador to participate in the November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women protest, a symbolic date that emerged out of the very first EFLAC. 

Dozens of buses left for the capital to participate in the march. The slogans called for the decriminalization of abortion, the recognition of sexual and gender diversity and freedom for political prisoners in Nicaragua. 

Organizers billed the march as a "Cultural activity against violence" not a protest. Further evidence, as if any were needed, of how difficult it is to be a feminist in Central America.