Life as a Legislator: Aldo Dávila, Guatemala
Born:
1977
Member of the Guatemalan Congress since:
2020
Political Party:
Winaq Movement
Previous occupations:
HIV activist
Human rights campaigner
Political persecution and resistance: the struggle of Congressman Aldo Dávila
Aldo Dávila is the first openly gay man elected to the Congress of Guatemala, first HIV-positive member of Congress, and the second openly LGBTI+ person after former legislator Sandra Morán. As an elected representative, his commitment is "to ensure that human rights of all people are not violated" – a life’s work which began decades ago in his role as a social activist, having participated in marches and protests in favor of diversity. Among others, he has served as Director of the Asociación Gente Positiva, which promotes the improvement in health, quality of life and defense of the rights of people living with HIV.
Elected in 2020, he represents in Congress the struggles of the LGBTI+ population, people living with HIV, indigenous peoples and other important social causes. He believes that “a more inclusive, more affective, more loving and much more tolerant Latin America is possible.” Moreover, his active fight against government corruption has unleashed fierce political persecution against him and made him the target of direct and indirect attacks to try to silence him.
María Revelo-Imery of the Global Equality Caucus sat down with Aldo to talk about his life as a legislator.
This interview was conducted in Spanish and has been translated.
Aldo Dávila participates as a panelist of the session: Human Security and Fighting Hate Crimes, moderated by Alejandro Brito (right), Director of Letra Ese, in April 2022 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico during the launch of the Latin America chapter of the Global Equality Caucus.
WHAT HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THE GUATEMALAN LEGISLATURE BEEN LIKE?
First of all, thank you for the support that the Global Equality Caucus is giving to me. It is very important to state the situation that Guatemala is experiencing, a clear regression in the entire human rights agenda: persecution against judges and magistrates and social organisations defending human rights, water and land. I am the only member of the opposition, in 30 years of democratic history, who has 14 attempts of removing my right of political pre-trial. At this time I do not have this right of preliminary trial because it was taken from me by a spurious, political and illegitimate complaint at the very beginning of my mandate in 2020. Ironically, I was denounced until end 2021, that means, they denounced me 20 months later.
"I do not have the right of preliminary judgment because it was taken from me due to a complaint when I took office in 2020. Ironically, I was denounced until 2021, that means, they denounced me 20 months later..."
Has there been progress in Guatemala on INCLUSIVE LGBTI+ policy?
Since I was elected I have been in communication with the COPADEH (Presidential Commission for Peace and Human Rights). We have spoken about the creation of public policies in collaboration with social organisations. That’s about as far as it has progressed. They sent us a draft of a public policy that they had already made with some interesting advances, they changed the director of the COPADEH, but they said they have no obligation or commitment to create an LGBTI+ public policy.
You have been a vocal opponent of ‘Law 5272’, which has been criticised by civil society groups as an attempt to restrict LGBTI+ rights.
Indeed, and now Law 5272 has ceased to be an initiative of law and has become a decree. It is a law that also violates women who had miscarriages, a law in which doctors and women are punished, one which avoids talking about sexual diversity and where sex education is prohibited. Then President Giamattei asked it to be archived because civil society was rising up. I warned them at the time and alerted civil society that they should not allow it to be archived, because if it is stored it can be reconsidered, at any time it might be required as a smokescreen. It should have been vetoed because it is unconstitutional.
Aldo Dávila participates as a panelist of the work table: Human Security and Fighting Hate Crimes, moderated by Alejandro Brito (right), Director of Letra Ese, in April 2022 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico during the launch of the Latin America chapter of the Global Equality Caucus.
(L-R) Temístocles Villanueva, Congressman of Mexico City; Aldo Dávila, Representative of Guatemala; Wilson Castañeda, of Caribe Afirmativo- Colombia; Lol Kin Castañeda Badillo, Former Constituent Congressman of Mexico City. At the launch of the Latin America chapter of GEC in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the LGBTI+ POPULATION IN GUATEMALA?
When I worked at the Guatemalan Red Cross many years ago, there was a tropical storm that wreaked havoc. And they made a kit, with a poncho, sanitary towels, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, brush, and they put in condoms. And I said to my boss, "Look, I don't think people are having sex in a situation like this," and she replied, "On the contrary, when there are floods, storms, volcano eruptions, earthquakes and pandemics and people see their mobility repressed, it's when people have the most sex." Then the pandemic happened, here we were confined after 3 p.m. until 5 a.m. the next day, for 8 months... So the women, the sex workers, the trans women, you can't imagine them standing by day in the morning... and there they were because the customers were looking for them during the day. However, there was no access to protection and right now we are paying the consequences because in Guatemala it shot up in new cases of HIV... so I think we can not fail to pay attention to this.
REGARDING HIV, WHAT CHANGES HAVE OCCURRED IN GUATEMALA?
Comprehensive care is not meeting all the quality standards that comprehensive care should have... Because we want more than just a “here is your pill”, we also want to spend time with the social worker, with the nutritionist... so I do think we need to talk more about comprehensive care and asking governments to give effective comprehensive care in these care units. Also, as I tell you, everything has not been bad: it has been decentralized, we have tried to bring the care units to the people so that they have access, as of 2010 there are more clinics, people no longer have to travel kilometers and kilometers to get care.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS URGENT IN TERMS OF HIV TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH THE VIRUS?
What we urgently need to do is to update the law. If it is updated, (because, again, the law 27-2000 was created in the year 2000! So today’s reality is that the treatment is simpler and that care is already decentralized...) we can improve the conditions for people living with HIV if we update this law because we no longer live the reality of the year 2000 where there was no medicine, where there was no access to tests. And above all, talk about the new technologies of PrEP, PEP, circumcision... Because we have to talk about it, without forgetting about the other sexually transmitted infections that are more severe every day, because gonorrheas have become more abrasive, there are studies of papillomatosis, there are studies of chlamydia, so we can not stop talking about STIs. And finally, let’s not forget that HIV is also an epidemic and we can't stop caring for HIV because of COVID, I think they have to be hand in hand.
“Let’s not forget that HIV is also an epidemic and we can't stop caring for HIV because of COVID, I think they have to go hand in hand.”
Aldo Dávila participates in our dialogue in Buenos Aires, on how legislators can influence the promotion of laws for national responses to the HIV epidemic, and how they can work together with civil society to modernise and humanise responses.
(L-R) GEC Deputy Chair, Rep. Tamara Adrián (Venezuela); GEC Steering Committee member, Rep. Jack Patrick Lewis (USA - MA); Congressman Temístocles Villanueva (Mexico - CDMX); Congressman Aldo Dávila (Guatemala); Congressman Andrés Cancimance (Colombia); and Congresswoman Susel Paredes (Peru) during the meeting of legislators in Buenos Aires. (Sept. 2022)
On August 16, 2022, Aldo presented the draft bill against “conversion therapies,” one of the Caucus' global campaigns.
After the launch of the GEC in Mexico in April 2022, Dávila decided to work with his team, with Asociación Gente Positiva, the Casa LGBTIQ+, the team of Mauricio Toro (former Colombian Congressman and now associate of the Caucus) and with OutRight International to present a draft bill at a national level that would prohibit conversion practices.
From your position as a legislator, how are you supporting a ‘conversion therapy’ ban in guatemala?
So-called “conversion therapies” violate very much LGBTI+ people and that is why we have presented a draft bill to protect and respect LGBT+ people, along with expert civil society partners, to stop these therapies of hatred and torture. From my office we will accompany the process and provide the legal review it may need.
TO WHAT EXTENT IS IT IMPORTANT TO BE PART OF A NETWORK LIKE THE GLOBAL EQUALITY CAUCUS?
The importance of a network like the Global Equality Caucus is to enable us, the elected people, to share our victories and failures, but also to learn from the experiences of others facing similar challenges. In Latin America we have a common reality when it comes to inequalities and we can address them more effectively if we work together.
Meeting between Latin American legislators and their secretariat and the UN Independent Expert on protection from violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz.