Camila Vallejo: 'They tried to create caricatures of me'

Camila Vallejo: 'They tried to create caricatures of me'

The student leader who ignited a national debate over education is about to take her place as a Communist in the Chilean parliament

Gaby Hinsliff introduces the Observer's series on female politicians around the world

Jonathan Franklin
The Observer, Saturday 8 February 2014



Chilean MP and former student leader Camila Vallejo.
Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

Camila Vallejo is the antithesis of the average Chilean politician. She's not a man, she's not rich and she's not worried about re-election.

"Macho attitudes in Chile are expressed in many forms," says the 25-year-old, a recent mother, who was elected to parliament in November and takes office in March. "In the salary inequalities, the lack of respect for sexual and reproductive rights and the great difficulties that confront women trying to reach political office."

A member of the Communist Youth, Vallejo rose to prominence in 2011 as president of the politically powerful University of Chile student federation. In street marches during 2011 and 2012, university and high school students, led in part by Vallejo, exposed Chilean higher education to be a for-profit sham with little effective regulation. University presidents were jailed, universities shut down and investigated, the protesters ignited a national debate over the future of public education in Chile.

Vallejo has been delivering political speeches and organizing communities for nearly a decade. Even as a 19-year-old Vallejo was known for rousing speeches that espoused deeper social spending and inclusion for Chile's lower class. Elected last year to represent La Florida, a middle-class Santiago neighborhood, Vallejo epitomises shoe-leather politics. She walked her entire district, from farmer's market to small businesses, pushing her progressive agenda. The strategy paid off as she and fellow communist youth activist Karol Cariola were both elected.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/09/camila-vallejo-caricatures-chile-communist