Ana Helena Chacon Echeverria, Vice President of Costa Rica (2014-2018), and Ambassador to Spain (2018-2022).
Ms. Ana Helena Chacón Echeverría is a Costa Rican politician known for her advocacy in women’s rights, human rights, and public health policies. She served as a member of the Costa Rican Parliament from 2006 to 2010. On April 6, 2014, Luis Guillermo Solís, whose presidential campaign received support from Ms. Chacón Echeverría, won the election. During her four-year tenure as vice president, Ms. Chacón Echeverría championed policies benefiting disadvantaged members of society and directed the national strategy to combat poverty.
The following are excerpts from Ana Helena Chacón Echeverría’s speech at the IWD2024 Conference in Paris.
Dear Maryam,
Thank you very much for having me here. I am so honored.
Dear friends, I think that we are really privileged being here together.
I would like to name each one of you because we are together because we gather love this afternoon, because we want to have a better world. And we know that (repressive) regimes are usually misogynistic regimes.
And misogyny is about controlling women, women’s bodies, and should never be tolerated.
To be truly democratic and respectful of human rights, a country must abolish the death penalty. Costa Rica did it in the 19th century. It was one of the first in the world.
But also, (you have) to have access to justice. All the women here should also fight for those who are in prison in other countries… So, our voice and our souls should be together because no one needs to be in prison because they are fighting (for) their rights, and of course, women’s rights.
It would be really horrible to be silent about all the violence (against) women around the world…
We need to understand that poverty is a major human rights violation and the majority of (poor) people are women and their underage children. We must work towards better health distribution and if we want to talk about women’s liberation, that’s a very important fact if we want to have democracy.
Today here, we are missing 26 Iranian women that were executed. They had their hopes in life. They should have been here, and we should have been embracing them if they weren’t killed by the (Iranian) regime…
We are here because there is love in our hearts and no hate. Because the one and only feeling that really builds up is love and not hate. We don’t hate anybody. We just want to build a human society that lives in peace.
We want every woman to have and to build their own project of happiness, not oppression. We are going to fight with ideas. We are going to fight with the truth. With a strong voice so our message of freedom and justice will be heard all around the world. Even in a small country in Central America as Costa Rica. I promise you that.
We are here to honor the lives of the ones whom we cannot embrace now.
And we are here to tell their families that their death and assassination cannot be forgotten because we will fight for other lives. We will fight for freedom. We will fight for Iran, and we will fight for women’s rights.
Thank you very much.
