Diario Libre explains that a woman who was in a beauty parlor in Tamayo ran out of the shop to hug Gonzalo Castillo as he campaigned in her town. The case was widely disseminated. Later campaign strategists decided to incorporate “women in rollers” into the regular campaign activities. Andres Navarro, former Minister of Education and today, operational director for the Gonzalo 2020 campaign, says the moment was a sincere and spontaneous one that they have sought to maintain. “After that in all the Gonzalo campaign actions there are women in rollers coming out to hug him and express their support,” he said.
Political analyst Rosario Espinal did a different take on the rollers campaign strategy. She called it part of the constant degradation of women in politics. She says the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) has consistently shown lack of sensibility to the rights of women. She says in the Medina cabinet, there are only three women. These are the Ministry of Women, Ministry of Youth and Ministry of Superior Education, three of the ministries with the smallest budgets.
She also observed that all the candidates running for office for the National District are men. She criticized that these three men campaigned through city barrios on Sunday on board a SUV accompanied with several women wearing rollers.
“It’s one thing for a candidate to spontaneously greet women in rollers on the street, but it’s quite another to do a political-electoral choreography where three male candidates appear in front of a SUV and several women behind them in rollers,” she complains.
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Diario Libre
Acento
23 January 2020