Ecuador names 1st female defense chief
http://www.gmanews.tv/world.php?sec=6&id=24777
Article posted December 28, 2006, 9:04 am
QUITO, Ecuador - President-elect Rafael Correa appointed seven women to his Cabinet on Wednesday, including Ecuador's first female defense minister, saying he wanted to promote gender equality in his South American nation.
The new defense minister, Guadalupe Larriva, will also be the first armed forces chief who has never served in the military.
"Ecuador will really become a democracy when all the institutions of the state are clearly subject to civilian society," Correa told reporters. "That is why it is very important to break the tradition of putting an ex-officer in charge of the Defense Ministry and put in a civilian, and if possible a woman."
In other appointments to his 17-member Cabinet, Correa named women to head the foreign, health, housing, and social welfare ministries. He said he would keep outgoing President Alfredo Palacio's ministers of tourism and the environment, the only women in the current Cabinet.
Correa, who takes office Jan. 15, said he would "try to achieve gender equality." He acknowledged it was "something we are not going to reach, but at least we will get close."
Larriva, the president of the Socialist Party, said she expected more "curiosity" than animosity from Ecuador's military brass "over whether a woman can lead in this role."
Retired army Col. Luis Hernandez, a military analyst, called Larriva's appointment "positive" and said Ecuador's armed forces were prepared to take orders from a woman.
Soon after his election in November, Correa named two leftist economists to his Cabinet — Ricardo Patino as finance minister and Alberto Acosta as energy minister.
On Wednesday, he chose his campaign manager, Gustavo Larrea, to be interior minister. Larrea will be tasked with a national referendum on a special assembly to draft a new constitution, a process similar to one underway in Bolivia under leftist President Evo Morales. - AP
http://www.gmanews.tv/world.php?sec=6&id=24777
Article posted December 28, 2006, 9:04 am
QUITO, Ecuador - President-elect Rafael Correa appointed seven women to his Cabinet on Wednesday, including Ecuador's first female defense minister, saying he wanted to promote gender equality in his South American nation.
The new defense minister, Guadalupe Larriva, will also be the first armed forces chief who has never served in the military.
"Ecuador will really become a democracy when all the institutions of the state are clearly subject to civilian society," Correa told reporters. "That is why it is very important to break the tradition of putting an ex-officer in charge of the Defense Ministry and put in a civilian, and if possible a woman."
In other appointments to his 17-member Cabinet, Correa named women to head the foreign, health, housing, and social welfare ministries. He said he would keep outgoing President Alfredo Palacio's ministers of tourism and the environment, the only women in the current Cabinet.
Correa, who takes office Jan. 15, said he would "try to achieve gender equality." He acknowledged it was "something we are not going to reach, but at least we will get close."
Larriva, the president of the Socialist Party, said she expected more "curiosity" than animosity from Ecuador's military brass "over whether a woman can lead in this role."
Retired army Col. Luis Hernandez, a military analyst, called Larriva's appointment "positive" and said Ecuador's armed forces were prepared to take orders from a woman.
Soon after his election in November, Correa named two leftist economists to his Cabinet — Ricardo Patino as finance minister and Alberto Acosta as energy minister.
On Wednesday, he chose his campaign manager, Gustavo Larrea, to be interior minister. Larrea will be tasked with a national referendum on a special assembly to draft a new constitution, a process similar to one underway in Bolivia under leftist President Evo Morales. - AP