Andrés Treviño, Victory Institute’s Global team’s newest member, shares his experience traveling to Lima, Peru and joining local partners Promsex in the closing of Global’s LGBTQI+ Leadership Training Program.
I’m excited to share my first experience as a Victory Institute staffer! I was already familiar with Victory Institute’s work: in the past I’ve participated in trainings in México. For me, it’s very exciting to have the opportunity to be part of this amazing team and strengthening Latin American LGBTQI+ politics and politicians.
The results of the work we’ve been doing in Peru with Promsex, our partner organization, is really inspiring. In mid-March, the latest edition of our training, Empodera, came to an end. This leadership program has been going on for 14 years, and it has become a very relevant platform for the Peruvian LGBTIQ+ movement.
35 participants were selected out of more than 200 applicants, all of them are actively participating in Peruvian politics, where instability threatens recent LGBTIQ+ rights advances.
It’s very fulfilling to see that all the students have references of great activists and politicians who have been participants in our trainings in Peru, such as Gahela Cari, a trans and indigenous activist who ran for Congress in past elections. During her session in Empodera, she shared with everyone that after a long time in civil organizations, she understood that the real task was to get into politics and pursue a decision-making position after participating in our training in 2017.
Even though it’s clear that the recent events in Peruvian politics scare them all, the knowledge acquired through these months of training and the community that was created among them during the process makes them feel powerful and ready to take steps towards visibility and pride.
It’s very relevant that the country’s electoral authority, the National Election Jury, actively participates in the training. The president of the jury was there to share an empowering message that states the importance of LGBTIQ+ participation in further elections.
We closed this program with a cultural night during which the participants developed a talent show. It was very rich since they all came from different regions of the country. At the end, we all held our hands and danced to a traditional Peruvian song that says: “They will end forever the injustices of this world”, which for me perfectly describes all the feelings I have about this work we share. 🌈
