Estefanía Careaga, candidate for deputy for the Central department for the Alianza Encuentro Nacional (AEN), is a native of Villa Elisa. She ran for the city council last year but was not elected, however she managed to join forces with the citizens to achieve other victories such as the cessation of noise pollution and measures against the proliferation of service stations in said city. She is now looking for a new opportunity in Parliament to inspire other women and young people to get involved in politics and transform realities.
Who is Estefania Careaga Cacace?
I define myself as an idealist but stepping firmly, never leaving aside my feminine figure. As a woman, we must take a step forward to conquer those decision-making spaces to give a voice to all women who are underrepresented. The congress only has 15% female participation. Most of the policies and debates that revolve around women are debated by men. Therefore, these spaces must necessarily be occupied to give voice to that need that is unsatisfied. I am a mom, dreamer and politician who feels that her candidacy is what she is looking for is to inspire female and young leadership.
Is Paraguayan politics still sexist?
Totally, Paraguayan politics continues to be sexist, there are still obstacles for women to conquer these spaces of power. From the moment you apply, as a woman, you should listen to criticism or comments about her dress and makeup, when a man does not have such objections. No one gets to delve into my proposals, I have a master’s degree in business administration and courses on politics. But I must necessarily listen to comments about my physique for the mere fact of being a woman.
What is the Alianza Encuentro Nacional?
It is a space that brings together PEN, Hagamos, the Awakening movement and other movements in order to join forces to win spaces in Congress. To be able to give voice and solutions to citizens. For the AEN it is a space where I meet many with whom we walk teams and efforts. It is a group of people who seek to create a better country beyond colors. The list of both senators and deputies is made up of fantastic people such as Pedro Mayor Martínez, Soledad Villagra, Kattya González, José Antonio Galeano and others. With this team I want to build.
Are people tired of politics?
For too long, politics has been disappointing citizens, people, young people. I believe that today young people do not find representation in leadership, that is why they disregard it. Politics and authorities trampled on the wishes of many people. Politics is a tool to provide solutions to the needs or pain of citizens. It is currently kidnapped by political sectors that respond to sectoral interests. I believe that our challenge and our obligation as young people is to recover this policy as a tool for the common good. In that sense, my political role is to fight to recover that faith in citizenship for the construction of the country. Beyond that we can question the past, we must learn from those mistakes.
Can you reach young people?
At first they are quite reluctant, when they feel that you want to impose a candidacy, when in reality, what you want is to build leadership. Estefi Careaga is one more young woman who wants to motivate other young people to occupy spaces of power. We cannot allow the same ones, who have been occupying seats in Parliament for years. Our democracy is relatively young and has not advanced in a construction. We want to be supported by that 52% of the population.
Why do you want to reach the Chamber of Deputies?
Since I have a lot of training in public policy, I insist that my focus will be focused on providing solutions or responding to the needs of many women. Many times they accuse me of being feminists. It does not happen by neglecting the needs of men, it happens by attending to historically neglected needs, in education, there is no census on the number of children with disabilities, single mothers do not find an answer for education for that child with disabilities. The stimulation of the first 1000 days marks the future of the child, nor is it part of the legislative agenda. We don’t want to talk about suicides and we keep putting off that discussion.
