Sandra Moran (Facebook)
By Heather Gies & Sandra Moran, teleSUR, Jan. 13, 2016
As Guatemala’s new head of state Jimmy Morales prepares to be sworn in, many are skeptical that the new government will challenge the status quo championed by former President Otto Perez Molina, who resigned last September following months of social movement pressure over his role in a government corruption scandal.
While Morales’ election campaign painted him as a candidate from outside the ruling political elite and distanced him from the corruption scandals embroiling the government, the new president has been linked to the same political, economic, and military brass that has backed many of his predecessors since the end of the country’s brutal 36-year civil war.
Sandra Moran, a longtime feminist activists and artist who has pioneered women’s and LGBTI movements in Guatemala, is also a newly elected member of Congress. Among the most influential feminist activists in Guatemala, Moran has already made history as the country’s first openly lesbian lawmaker, and plans to bring a new approach to governing.
teleSUR English spoke with Moran about her expectations of the new government and her goals as a lawmaker rooted in the demands and struggles of social movements.
teleSUR English: You have been involved in social movements for years. From this point of view, what is to be expected with the new government of Jimmy Morales and what do you think will characterize the political situation in the coming months?
Sandra Moran: It is still not clear who will be in the Cabinet, however with the names currently being identified it seems that there is not going to be a very different change from previous governments. The neoliberal model, the extractivist model, the control of the economy of the country—all of this is going to continue. What seems to have changed in the last few days was the presence of the counterinsurgency military officers in the government and that the capture of several former military officers affects this approach and possibility that there had been.
So for the advance of demands and the struggle of social movements, I think there is going to continue to be a need for mobilization, and a need for the citizens to continue organizing and continue demonstrating against corruption and against authorities' authoritarian acts, both in the central government and the local governments, including members of Congress.
teleSUR English: Since former President Otto Perez Molina took power, there has been an increase in criminalization and attacks against social movements and human rights defenders. What do you think will be the environment of struggle for social movements under the government of Jimmy Morales?
Sandra Moran: I think the agenda of struggle will continue to be the same, with the need to increase the connections between social movements to continue advancing in their own constructions. But I think the agenda of justice is going to move forward, all the cases of genocide and people that were involved in atrocities, that is going to move forward. But the whole extractivist model that implies not listening to the demands of communities, this is not going to stop … It's the same package that was in the government of Otto Perez.
So, I think this is going to continue, the agenda and the demands. And I hope that with the people from the attorney general's office, at the governing level, that the repression and persecution will stop, but it will depend on the ability of the government to open dialogue.
teleSUR English: As an activist, feminist, and artist, how did you decide to take the decision to run as a candidate and what do you want to promote as a congressperson?
Sandra Moran: I accepted and finally assumed the candidacy last May 16 as a result of the awareness of the national Constituent Assembly's demand that there be a voice within the national Congress to be able to put on the table the discussions that we are having in the streets. In fact, I think the fact that I have won makes it a task that I have. This is something we have to do, to raise the voice of social movements. Not just raising our voices outside (the Congress), but also raising our voices within.
It is part of our responsibility to include the agenda of social movements, which is more difficult because we are only three people, four or five (with other allies). We have to make political agreements and try to lobby people in Congress, this is part of our work. One hard job is to be a representative, and the other is to monitor the executive from the inside so that they fulfill their obligations. And denouncing, we have to denounce.
teleSUR English: How is your experience working with social movements and grassroots communities going to inform your work as a representative in Congress?
Sandra Moran: I am still part of the national popular assemblies, and I will continue to be part of the women's movement. I am planning that the fact that I am a congressperson will not mean that I have stop being who I am. Importantly, if we want to do politics in a different way, it means we have the possibility to continue being part of conversations and collective strategy, which allows each one to do their own work.
In addition, we have a collective practice and that has to be expressed, in the work that the Congress does and in the work of work groups that we are forming. So I think this (social movement) experience will help us to put forward a different methodology and way of doing politics.
teleSUR English: Is there anything else you would like to add about the political situation in Guatemala that people outside the country should know?
Sandra Moran: I think it is important to continue all of the aspects of international solidarity, solidarity with communities, because this struggle remains open. The problems in Guatemala are very difficult and also most people live in a terrible situation.
And with a new government about to begin that said it is going to do a lot of things, or that it is going to try to do things, I really doubt it will be able to do much because they have few proposals and the state has little income. But also and above all, the big business owners that drive the country's agenda and economy don't give up. So I think ongoing solidarity is important.