A curious protest at the Los Angeles Summit calls for action to address the environmental crisis

Wrapped in satin, tulle and filled with glitter and thick makeup, a group of drag queen singers called this Thursday in Los Angeles for leaders attending the Summit of the Americas – including Alberto Fernández – to help other nations on the continent. to address the environmental crisis.

Drag queens were dressed like Marilyn Monroe and they sang in a sensual voice a false version of “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to the executives, represented with life-size cardboard images.

Reporters and spectators watched that performance with the symbols of Hollywood, in a corner near the Congress Center. Among the Marilyns, together with the cartoon Fernandez, the American Joe Biden, the Canadian Justin Trudeau, the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro and the Ecuadorian Guillermo Lasso could be seen.

The different note was given by a drag queen who was dressed as Eva Perón and that performed an adapted version of the famous “Don’t cry for me, Argentina”, which asked rich countries to pay their ecological debt. “Don’t Feed Greed, Argentina” (Don’t Feed Greed, Argentina), sang the fake Evita.

The demonstration, organized by the human rights organization Avaaz, with 70 million members worldwide, sought to alert leaders of the extreme impacts of the ecological crisis in America and its consequences such as migratory wavesthe rise of food insecurity, a growing financial crisis and deadly living conditions due to climatic events, Argentine Carlos Soria, director of the Avaaz campaign, explained to Clarín.

Songs

In the song, Fernández is expressly requested “do not kneel before the IMF”, and to work towards a debt settlement by nature in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund. The “Evita” called on richer countries to pay off their ecological debt to developing countries, a claim similar to the one they made at the organization’s door in Washington.

The one with drag queens is just one of the many manifestations which have been seen these days around the convention center where leaders discuss various topics.

There are always immigrants who are asking for a comprehensive immigration reform. With flags and megaphones, they organize every day to draw attention to their cause.

José Ángel Esparza, is part of the “On the Struggle with Culture” group and came from Dallas to demonstrate. “We are raising our voices to tell President Biden that the Latin community deserves immigration reform,” he said. Clarione.

Fight

“We raise our voices in the name of those workers, farmers, those who lost their relatives in the pandemic because they continued to work despite the danger of the coronavirus and many of them no longer have them because they died awaiting a reform of the immigration. That’s why we raise our voices here. “

From a megaphone came: “Broken promises, don’t rate them”, In relation to Republicans and Democrats who do not keep their promises of reform.

In another corner, Nicaraguan groups were seen protesting the crackdown by Daniel Ortega’s government and calling for the release of political prisoners in Nicaragua.

Gretel Campbell of the organization “Free Nicaragua in Los Angeles” it is surrounded by portraits of the victims of repression. “These are young people who were killed by the Ortega regime during the protests in 2018. According to the IACHR, there are more than 300 murders that have occurred so far,” he told Clarín.

Nicaragua was not invited to the meeting because the United States (the host country) and others see the Ortega regime as a dictatorship.

The Los Angeles group tries to attract the attention of American leaders: “There are more than 6 million people who are kidnapped in their own country where they have absolutely no right to anything. There is no freedom of expression and we have political prisoners who are imprisoned just because they were standing in a corner with the flag of the country “.

PB