Laura Chinchilla. Credit: US Embassy, Costa Rica

By Danilo Valladares

GUATEMALA CITY, Mar 5, 2010 (IPS) – The victory of Laura Chinchilla in Costa Rica’s presidential elections, and the growing participation of women in Central American parliaments, point to their progress in the region’s spheres of political power. But they still have a long way to go, experts say. Continue Reading

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Credit:Public domain

By Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 18 , 2010 (IPS) – Fátima Oliveira, one of Brazil’s few black women doctors, always goes to “the best carnival,” in Sabará, a city of 130,000 people in the state of Minas Gerais, where “men dress up as women” at a celebration that is “very informal, very local, with few tourists.”
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