“I come to give back to Alcorta everything he gave me”, says Pamela Rocchi, 35, the first transgender candidate to occupy the communal presidency of the town located south of Santa Fe, the cradle of the famous agrarian rebellion called “El Grito de Alcorta ”. In 1912 the town witnessed a historical event: a rebellion of small and medium rural tenants, which spread throughout the Pampas region and was the founding stone of the Argentine Agrarian Federation, a union organization and member of the Mesa de Enlace.
In 2012, Pamela began to be a member of the military in social policies, the axis with which she intends to win the elections, as well as with dialogue and rapprochement with the agricultural sector. That same year they invited her to a “socialist January of the youths in Necochea”; there he met Alfonsina, daughter of the councilor of Villa Constitución, Analía Martín, who, surprised by her tenacity and determination, was involving her in politics. Over time it became known in the Socialist Party and was summoned by the former governor of Santa Fe – recently deceased – Miguel Lifschitz, in whose government she was Territorial Coordinator of the Subsecretariat for Sexual Diversity Policies of the province.
“At the age of 4, Analía passed away and I was devastated. Later they called me for the elections and Miguel asked me: Don’t you want to go to Social Development? It was the best Yes I ever gave in my life. The best decision I made. They were 4 wonderful years in politics, ”she says, happy. Osvaldo and Olga’s daughter, as she says she is known in the town, “feels happy” to be part of and head one of the lists that goes by the executive position of the town. Pamela is the first trans candidate in the country to apply for a similar position. If successful, it would be a historic event for the trans community and also for Alcorta.
“All my life I was in politics and I always wanted to be a candidate: two or three times I tried and there was no quorum, there were other people to be candidates. One day I went to the party and told them that I wanted to be a candidate for president of Alcorta because of all that I have worked for and they told me: ‘let’s move on’. In these years I learned about culture, education and a lot of things. So this time there was all ‘yes’ answer. We already have a list with nurses, teachers and working people. Two weeks before we presented the list and we are working. Our proposal fell very well in the town: they know me, they know that I received training, ”he says.
Pamela was a local government official between 2013 and 2015 and today she walks the streets of her town seeking to learn more about the problems that afflict society. She wants, she says, to give her back everything that one day she knew how to give her “because he didn’t kick her out.” For the PASO of Santa Fe, there are 6 lists of the Civic and Social Progressive Front (FPCyS), Together for Change, and the Justicialist Party. After the PASO there will be three lists, which will compete on November 14.
Government Proposal
“Trans people can do a lot of things, we just need to be given opportunities. This is a great challenge for me and I am working to do my best. My strength is social policies, being with the most needy, minorities, oblivion, sources of work and trades. The dream is to found a trade school not only for the locality, where there are specialties such as gas, electrician and plumber. Thousands of social housing are needed and you have to start somewhere. The people have to find a way forward, ”he says.
Alcorta has 9,000 inhabitants and 6,500 voters, according to the numbers they manage in the party. The town, he says, needs to develop micro-enterprises and strengthen SMEs and the agricultural sector. “I want to accompany the fairs, do things so that people can have a job and a home, it is something that I hear every day, in addition to gender violence, because the State cannot be an accomplice,” says Pamela.
The agricultural sector
In Alcorta the agrarian rebellion of small and medium rural tenants was born, which gave rise to the Argentine Agrarian Federation (FAA), after the declaration of a strike by the settlers in 1912. Pamela knows the history of the town that saw her born and that gave her everything with which she is happy today. “We have the largest town in Argentina in productive hectares. We are an agricultural and livestock town. The last steps gave a lot of importance to the countryside with the rural roads ”, he says.
Pamela is aware that agriculture is the main source of employment and money. “There are still many more things to do with the people of the field so that the producers can harvest their harvest and can express their full potential. The largest sources of work are generated by the field, livestock. We have met with producers to see what the shortcomings are and many farmers have told us that the strike that occurred recently (against the ban on exporting meat), affected them ”, he adds. There is only one “very large shoe factory” in the town that employs more than 150 people, but also many shops.
“People tell me that they are going to vote for me, I receive many messages because we are more than a political party, we are neighbors, friends,” says the candidate, and confesses that her family was not aware of her candidacy. “My family did not know anything and I will always thank them; they accompanied me in everything. I remember when I told them: ‘I don’t want to be who you told me I was. They told me: ‘You are our son and we are going to love you however you are and they were always there for me ”.
To get here, Pamela had to surf a wave of inconveniences, including waiting for the Government in 2012 to approve the gender identity law in order to have her new ID. “I always said to my friends, when I am president of Alcorta they will put the parades for me with the name my parents gave me and I don’t want to. But now they will do it like Pamela Rocchi ”, she says, laughing, out of the illusion of assuming the main political position of her town and leaving behind malicious comments that she would find work because she is trans.
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