EL PAÍS offers the América Futura section openly for its daily and global information contribution on sustainable development. If you want to support our journalism, subscribe
here
.
Uruguay has taken its time, 190 years of institutional life, to see on a Senate bench a descendant of the African slaves who were traded as cattle in these lands until 1842. To achieve this, Gloria Rodríguez (Melo, 63 years old) assures who had to work three times as hard as his co-religionists. “Women have to play
Supermarías
, while any Juancito arrives,” she says in a conversation with América Futura in the office she has occupied since 2020 as a senator of the ruling National Party (center-right).
In his case, this leap into politics involved leaving life in Cerro Largo (northeast of the country) behind and moving to Montevideo more than 30 years ago to treat the motor disease that affected Claudio, the eldest of his two children. She arrived in the Uruguayan capital with them, her great-grandmother and her family dog, separated from her husband, without a job and almost no references. Since then, she participated in civil organizations for equal opportunities, worked in the educational field and was active in the National Party, following the conservative family tradition, which she qualified with a less than accommodating social outlook. “This gurisa [girl] is a communist,” her father used to say when Gloria questioned the provincial
status quo
.
While in his homeland, Rodríguez questioned early on why many white ranch owners impregnated black maids, as was the case with his great-grandmother, without anyone batting an eyelid. “The passivity with which those things were accepted bothered me,” he says. He also began to wonder why in his hometown, Melo, the Club Unión statutes prohibited entry to “people of color” until the end of the 20th century. And he questioned why she was the only black person in her generation who had finished high school.
With Rodríguez, the portrait of an era that bothers Uruguay "that perceives itself as non-discriminatory" entered the Uruguayan Senate, in his own words. Also the current photograph of a country where the Afro-descendant population (about 340,000 people, 10% of its inhabitants) maintains poverty rates (17%) that double those registered among the white population. The senator refutes the preachers of meritocracy with these and other data. “Don't make me an example of anything, I arrived by exception,” she insists.
Ask.
It is very common to hear that Uruguayan society “descends from the ships”, always in reference to European immigration, never to the thousands who arrived enslaved from Africa. To what do you attribute this historic cut?
Answer.
It is not new that in Uruguay there is a wave of Caribbean migrants, which balanced its stagnant demographic growth. Many times I see that there is rejection and I hear people say: “Oh, the immigrants, they take away our jobs.” Caramba! They forget how many of us arrived on the boats. Some fleeing famines, pestilences...And we, enslaved. But they don't take us into account, we have been made invisible, also to hide how we arrived. Uruguayans, who perceive themselves as non-discriminatory, how are they going to say that black people were received here to be sold like animals?
Q.
What sense would that concealment have?
R.
Who wrote the story? Those who have had power. What did those people have? Slaves. Are they going to recognize that they had human beings as animals? Never. In this country there are fortunes made by auctioneers who sold to blacks. These are facts that really fill us with shame. Then, it becomes invisible. Does not exist. In the process of educational reform [in force from 2023], I met with the authorities to demand our presence. We managed to move forward in very short steps, such as publishing important dates for our group and recognizing that we are part of the construction of this homeland.
Q.
The 2023 Census data related to the Afro population has not yet been published, but official sources estimate that it represents 10% of the 3.4 million inhabitants of Uruguay. Is that so?
A.
When they were preparing the Census I met with the authorities of the INE [National Institute of Statistics] to tell them that we wanted to know how many blacks there are in this country. Today I know how many dogs there are in Uruguay [1.4 million, according to the Census], but I don't know how many blacks there are, because [in November 2023] the number of blacks was not published. So, yes there is discrimination. I think it will be more
10%, because we cannot forget that now we have immigrants [62,000, according to the INE]. What did they answer me? That [the data] is going to come out.
Q.
You come from Cerro Largo, a department bordering Brazil, where a high percentage of the Afro-Uruguayan population lives. How much did discrimination weigh on your life and that of your community?
R.
Invisibilization always existed, these issues were not talked about. The black man did not speak because he practically ignored his history and he was so subordinate that he saw it as something normal. We are two brothers, we grew up with my two parents, who were always very supportive, and my grandmother, who was the daughter of a rancher. From a white rancher. She was a daughter out of wedlock, something very normal in the interior and on the border. The boss impregnated his maids and the mistress knew it perfectly.
Q.
When did you know it?
A.
I found out big, because I am very curious; It was never talked about in my family. My grandmother grew up on the ranch as the never-recognized daughter of the maid. My grandmother's mother had entered from Brazil, where they were still in conditions of slavery [in Brazil slavery was abolished in 1888, in Uruguay in 1842]. The blacks crossed the dry border and went to work on the Cerro Largo ranches. They worked for food and shelter, they were not paid. My great-grandmother, like other women, was impregnated by her boss.
Gloria Rodríguez in Montevideo.NATALIA ROVIRA
Q.
Whose descendants are your relatives. Do you recognize it?
A.
Now they recognize it, because Gloria is a senator. Before she was the daughter of the black woman. Part of that rancher's family tells me: “Gloria, we are related.” And I tell them: “Illegitimate relatives.” When my grandmother's father, the rancher, died, they gave my grandmother a piece of land to build a house in the town. I am very aware that those people [her brothers] arrived with bags, because my grandmother washed their clothes and ironed them with starch. For me they were the patterns.
Q.
You prefer not to name them, not give them a last name.
A.
I don't give them a last name. They are far away and they are known. We are linked to some and it seems to me that it is unfair to make them feel bad. They have no responsibility for what happened. In my childhood I didn't lack anything, nor did I have anything left over. They always helped me, to educate me, to dress me. Then the reason for that help closed to me.
Q.
Did you also experience that discrimination at school or in high school?
A.
I experienced situations of racism, obviously. At the Catholic school I felt very discriminated against. They were all white, I was the poor black girl, who went to that school thanks to the others, because they helped me. I remember my mom would make me two braids with a white ribbon and a big bow. The little ones always pulled my braids and told me: “You little scrub head! [sponge to clean aluminum].” My mother told me: “don't worry, you are beautiful.” That marked me, but I had a lot of restraint.
Q.
You have said on several occasions that, in Melo, your hometown, blacks and whites could not go to the same social club. Can you explain it?
A.
At Club Unión, where the wealthiest people went, we Afro-descendants could not attend. Its statutes said that “colored people” were prohibited from entering. We only started to enter in the 1990s. And it was gradual. I went to dance at the Uruguay Center, which was created for black people. But when I finished high school, the end of the year party was held at the Unión Club, for the students and their families. Then the information came home that I was admitted, but my parents were not, because they were black. It was scary, but no one questioned anything.
Q.
You didn't question it?
R.
I never kept quiet, I had a very rebellious youth. The passivity with which these things were accepted bothered me. I got angry with my parents. My dad, who was a conservative and Herrerista man [for Luis Alberto de Herrera, conservative leader of the National Party], always said: “This gurisa [girl] is a communist.” Now I regret having questioned them so much.
Q.
Did situations like these determine your foray into politics?
A.
I don't know if in [party] politics, yes in social activism. I started working on social issues, approaching the weakest, now I would say minorities. Even today, because Uruguayan society is very racist, it discriminates a lot.
Gloria Rodríguez, in her office, in the Legislative Palace. NATALIA ROVIRA
Q.
How is this racism manifested?
A.
In the opportunities: Between a professional white man and a professional black man, we are going to choose the white man. Between a professional white woman and a professional black woman, we are going to choose the white woman. In education: [Afro-descendant] girls and boys often cannot finish their studies because they have to go out to work to help their family. We are always exceptions in all areas. When they tell me: “But you came,” I tell them not to use me as an example of anything, I am an exception, I arrived by exception. Now, I did triple what others did to have the same thing. And I still do it today.
Q.
In what aspects has Uruguay changed with respect to its youth?
A.
Now we are talking about this topic. Thirty years ago we didn't talk about it, we felt ashamed of being black. Today the young people, the new generations, show their blackness. They go out into the street and stand up, proud of their hair. It changed because we have a group of young people who have managed to study and identify with the group. And they raise their voices. Today we have affirmative actions and policies for the work of civil society organizations. I must also say that these affirmative policies towards the Afro-descendant community had a great boost in the governments of the Frente Amplio [leftist coalition that governed between 2005 and 2020].
Q.
You have said that you are “the daughter of the quota law”, promoted by the Frente Amplio and that allowed more women to enter Parliament in 2014. Do your aspirations for change not clash with the conservative roots of the Party? National? Do you row against the current?
A.
No, because today I am a senator. I believe that I have contributed to generating that much-needed change in Herrerismo [conservative wing of the National Party], which has been
updated
. Today I am the vice president of Herrerismo, a woman who, for example, defends the rights of people with different sexual identities. Now, I repeat it again: I work three times more than those who are not women or blacks, to obtain it is the same.
Q.
Among those affirmative policies that I mentioned is the law that establishes that 8% of jobs in public institutions must be occupied by people of African descent. But this is true in only six of the 126 registered organizations, according to the Presidency. What happened?
A.
It was never fulfilled, no Government fulfilled it. The law is very good, but what good is it to me if there is a call, there is the Afro quota, and I do not comply with the bases of that call. You are welcome. We have to work on education. If we do not educate ourselves, we can have all the laws in the world, but they will not be of any use to us. We need education and opportunities.
Q.
You are part of the current coalition government. What has been done to change this situation?
A.
In 2020 I presented a bill that became a direction [Division of Public Policy Promotion for Afro-descendants] for people of African descent to receive training. For the first time in history, the Afro community in our country has its own budget to carry out affirmative action policies.
Q.
A bill promoted by you seeks gender parity in political positions in Uruguay. Her co-religionists from the National Party are the most opposed because, as they say, women must arrive on their own merits. What do you answer to them?
A.
There are issues that fall due to their weight. Do men arrive based on merit? What are the merits that are required of women? We, women, have to play
Supermarias
, while any Juancito arrives. What I am requesting is that in a country where 52% of the population are women, that this be reflected in the political system. Because there are plenty of empowered and leading women. What's going on? They don't allow us to lead.
Q.
Will there be more Afro-descendant women on the National Party lists in the October 2024 general elections?
A.
I hope so, but I don't see it. Black women militate and militate, but unfortunately they do not find a place, neither in the National Party nor in other parties.