Suchergebnisse

Alexis de Tocqueville was the first author to correctly underline some of the main factors that stimulated, or better yet triggered, a series of events that led to the social and politically structure based radical changes implemented by the French Revolution. Tocqueville properly highlighted which social and political aspects of the Old Regime not only survived, but were strengthen and vigorously adopted by the Revolution and its begotten system. In this sense, he was able to demystify the French Revolution from its characteristically tabula rasa, or national foundational-stone, kind of event given by later post-revolution French governments. The French Revolution transformed many things from its roots, but so many remained unchanged or were even reinforced. Tocqueville's The Old Regime and the French Revolution masterfully embodies Lampedusa's famous dixit in Il Gattopardo: "The more things change the more they remain the same". On the other hand, Tocqueville's work suffers from a few shortcomings. First, he tries so emphatically to demonstrate the continuances between the Ancient Regime and the post-revolution system that he almost completely undermines the social and political changes brought up by the Revolution. Secondly, he does not pay any kind of attention to exogenous or international system factors. Tocqueville, actually, disregards them as having any role in the revolution's origins. This paper will briefly comment on Tocqueville's factors that triggered the French Revolution and briefly comment on the variables that he did not consider.It is rather interesting to see that Tocqueville defines the French Revolution as a religious revolution but with no anti-religious goals. He defines the revolution in such terms in order to emphasize its universal aspiration. The French Revolution originated in France but dealt with issues that were common to all humanity. The revolution tried, not only, to free the Frenchmen but all men. Tocqueville refers to the Revolution's philosophical foundations: the Enlightenment. During the second half of the 18th century, France was its cradle. The Enlightenment's ideas achieved for universal freedom from despotic rule. They were notorious among the kings' court, the nobility and the rapidly growing upper bourgeoisie and, finally, were the intellectual product of aristocratic individuals. In this way, Tocqueville points out how the French nobility was going to be one of the main factors of the French Revolution in two distinct ways. First, the Enlightenment's political and social ideas, which were the core of the political ideology that would embody the Revolution and inspire the policies enacted after July 1789, were a conception of aristocratic minds. The nobility, in a way, conceived the ideas that would later on politically, socially and morally justify and legitimize their downfall. Secondly, according to Tocqueville it was the French aristocracy who first rebelled against the absolutist monarchical power. The nobles did not only conceive the ideas that would destroy them, they also actually started a series of events that would culminate in a Revolution that they did not envisage and that would ultimately decimate them. Tocqueville accurately recognizes that it was the French aristocracy that petitioned the calling of the General Estates in 1787 because they were trying to impede the Monarchy's last possible financial resort at its hand: the taxation of the nobility. Tocqueville actually downgrades the fiscal constraints to which the French State was subject at the end of the 18th century. He argues that the State's bankruptcy was not an issue because it was not the first time that a similar situation happened to the French Crown and because between 1780 and 1789 France was a more economically prosperous country than during the Seven Years War and the American Independence War. The issue was not that the Crown did not have any money; it was that the State decided to end with the centuries' long aristocracy's exception of taxation; which resulted in nobility's rebellion. Tocqueville describes how the French nobility had lost its feudal role and, instead, it primarily dedicated to civil management, most importantly court and fiscal administration; to rent their lands to small peasants; and, to partake in the King's court. All of them were exempted from taxation just because they owned a noble title. Tocqueville underlines the pivotal role that the nobility played in being civic servants. Even if many members of Absolutist regime's bureaucracy were bourgeois, the courts, fiscal agencies and other institutions, like the provincial parliaments and the municipal councils, were almost exclusively integrated by noblemen. The central power of the State and its immense bureaucracy is one of the continuities that Tocqueville sees between the old and the new regime; particularly, the idea of a bureaucratic machine managed by elites. As Tocqueville, and much later Perry Anderson, notice, the French aristocracy had an enormous control over the Absolutist system; the Monarchy could only enact its desired policies when they did not harm the nobility's interests(1). If any decision taken by the Crown was detrimental to their interests then they would have obstructed its implementation in an institutional way: the aristocratic packed courts and provincial parliaments would have delayed or refused to execute any unfavorable provision (2). The French aristocracy, then, obstructed the French Monarchy's taxation plan and pressured the King to call the General Estates in 1787. The upper bourgeoisie, on the other hand, favored the Crown's taxation plan but wanted to take advantage of the General Estates calling in order to gain more leverage in the tax reform's decision process (3). Either way, it was the French nobility's rebellious attitude against the King that would prompt the next series of events. Much has been said about this aristocratic political defiance; Tocqueville does not regard nobility's actions as a way to transform Absolutist France into a British kind of constitutional monarchy where the aristocracy would obtain political dominance, with regards to the Crown and the upper bourgeoisie, through an income-based or landownership-based representative parliament (4). He just perceives these actions as the last available desperate option to a soon to be old socio-economic system's class. French aristocracy had become a burden to France. If they did not turn themselves into a productive force, like the growing bourgeoisie, they would remain a useless, parasitic and institutionally over-represented class in the eyes of France's main economic sector: the peasants. As stated before, Tocqueville does not give too much of a relevant role to the bourgeoisie in the origins of the French Revolution. Both the upper and lower middle class would have a greater role after the 14th of July 1789. Instead, he sees the roots of the Revolution in the French aristocracy, as indicated above, and in the French peasantry. Tocqueville is able to empirically prove that the feudal agrarian system was almost dead in 18th century France. Seigniorial-peasantry relationships just amounted to land-renting, hunting and pasture privileges and harvest's percentage rendering (5). However, peasants were drowning in taxes. More than 75% of their returns were destined to the French central State, to the regional or provincial departments and to the municipalities (6). The last two were mainly aristocratic conformed institutions. Additionally, peasants were forced to give in to the central State's or departmental authorities a substantial percentage of their harvest for the urban populations. Furthermore, if it is considered that during the 1780s a series of famines and bad harvests produced a serious of food shortages, where commodity's high prices could not compensate the limited quantity of offered goods, worsening the peasantry conditions. Then, it is no surprise that there was a growing discontent among the peasants against the Crown failed foreign policies endeavors, that they were supporting with their work and their children, and against the aristocracy's unproductive and untaxed life style that they had to provide for (7). Here, Tocqueville discerns continuity between the old and the new regime: France after the revolution will still be mostly peasant and they will still be severely burdened with taxes and wars but a new kind of political system will replace Monarchy and a new class will replace the aristocracy. All those circumstances were the catalyst for a sequence of peasant's rebellions, starting in 1788, that overwhelmed the Monarchy's police authority (8). Ironically, the Crown was unable to contain the rising revolts because its repressive power depended on army garrisons that were headed by the aristocracy, whom, at first, refrained from suppressing in order to pressure the King with no taxation. The fateful combination of the rebellion of the dominant classes against the regime's authority plus the total breaking of the State's repressive power permitted an all-out uprising of the lower classes. Peasants and middle classmen were able to take the reins of the revolution and change the French socio-political system according to their interests. Regardless of Tocqueville's successful achievement in identifying the origins of the French Revolution, (the aristocracy refusal to be taxed and the peasantry's discontent on the nobility's untaxed privileges) it has to be said that no exogenous factors are taken into consideration. Tocqueville did not agree with the idea that the American Independence War depletion of France's reserves had provoked the civil unrest that later triggered the revolution. Even if the causal correlation between the American Revolution and the French one is indirect, international systemic variables did matter in the revolution's inception. Without strong international competition from a rising industrialist country like Great Britain and a series of military defeats, the French Monarchy would have not had to resort to tax the aristocracy and the regime's repressive mechanisms would have worked and effectively stopped the peasant's uprisings (9). Finally, Tocqueville sees the bourgeoisie a class that masterfully took advantage of a revolution that they did not originated. Even if the role of the bourgeoisie may have been greatly exaggerated in the French Revolution's narrations, it still had a pivotal role in confronting the aristocratic courts and parliaments; in replacing the nobility as civic servants; and, in obstructing the aristocracy's crave for an exclusive political role in State's decisions. Without the upper and lower middle class, nobility may have gained total control of the Absolutist system (10). Lastly, it has to be said that there are moments where Tocqueville affirms that political and social freedom were greater during the Ancient Regime than afterwards. These statements have to take into account Tocqueville's own historical context and personal life at that moment. He had self-exiled from politics after Louis Bonaparte coup d'état in December 1852 and was completely aware that Napoleon's III regime was a new kind of authoritarian system with more repressive and despotic rule than the pre-revolutionary Absolutist regimes. Nevertheless, Tocqueville's work stands out among the best and most descriptive analysis of the French Revolution's origins. His emphasis on underlining the continuances between the old regime and the new one and the almost complete lack of attention paid to the important and radical social and political changes brought by the Revolution have to attributed to the fact that The Old Regime and the French Revolution was the first part of his uncompleted work on the revolution; which had it been continued and concluded would have certainly highlighted the system-changing ideas enacted after July 1789.1) See Anderson, Perry, Linages of the Absolutist Sate, New Left Books, London, 1974. It is rather interesting to compare Tocqueville take on the French State compared with his views on the United States. He argues that one of the main differences between of how the Frenchmen and the American perceived the State was that the first ones saw it as place to look for working positions an mode of living, while the latter had a completely opposite idea.(2) See Skocpol, Theda, States and Social Revolutions. A comparative Analysis of France, Russia & China, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1979, pp. 56-60.(3) See Furet, Francois and Richet, Denis, The French Revolution, Macmillan, New York, 1970.(4) See Cobban, Alfred, Old Regime and Revolution, 1715-1799, Penguin, Baltimore, 1957, pp.155.(5) See Moore Barrington, The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World, Beacon Press, Boston, 1966, pp. 40-108. (6) See Skocpol, Theda, States and Social Revolutions. A comparative Analysis of France, Russia & China, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1979, pp. 119.(7) See Moore Barrington, The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World, Beacon Press, Boston, 1966, pp. 40-108. (8) See Skocpol, Theda, States and Social Revolutions. A comparative Analysis of France, Russia & China, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1979, pp. 121.(9) See Skocpol, Theda, States and Social Revolutions. A comparative Analysis of France, Russia & China, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1979, pp. 60-65.(10) See Moore Barrington, The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World, Beacon Press, Boston, 1966, pp. 40-108. Moore's famous theory: weak landlords but strong bourgeoisie give rise to democratic system like the French on.*Estudiante de Doctorado, New School for Social Research, New YorkMaestría en Estudios Internacionales, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos AiresÁrea de Especialización: Procesos de formación del Estado moderno, sociología de la guerra, terrorismo, genocidio, conflictos étnicos, nacionalismos y minorías.

In my postgraduate formation during the last years of the 80's, we had close to thirty hospital beds in a pavilion called "sépticas" (1). In Colombia, where abortion was completely penalized, the pavilion was mostly filled with women with insecure, complicated abortions. The focus we received was technical: management of intensive care; performance of hysterectomies, colostomies, bowel resection, etc. In those times, some nurses were nuns and limited themselves to interrogating the patients to get them to "confess" what they had done to themselves in order to abort. It always disturbed me that the women who left alive, left without any advice or contraceptive method. Having asked a professor of mine, he responded with disdain: "This is a third level hospital, those things are done by nurses of the first level". Seeing so much pain and death, I decided to talk to patients, and I began to understand their decision. I still remember so many deaths with sadness, but one case in particular pains me: it was a woman close to being fifty who arrived with a uterine perforation in a state of advanced sepsis. Despite the surgery and the intensive care, she passed away. I had talked to her, and she told me she was a widow, had two adult kids and had aborted because of "embarrassment towards them" because they were going to find out that she had an active sexual life. A few days after her passing, the pathology professor called me, surprised, to tell me that the uterus we had sent for pathological examination showed no pregnancy. She was a woman in a perimenopausal state with a pregnancy exam that gave a false positive due to the high levels of FSH/LH typical of her age. SHE WAS NOT PREGNANT!!! She didn't have menstruation because she was premenopausal and a false positive led her to an unsafe abortion. Of course, the injuries caused in the attempted abortion caused the fatal conclusion, but the real underlying cause was the social taboo in respect to sexuality. I had to watch many adolescents and young women leave the hospital alive, but without a uterus, sometime without ovaries and with colostomies, to be looked down on by a society that blamed them for deciding to not be mothers. I had to see situation of women that arrived with their intestines protruding from their vaginas because of unsafe abortions. I saw women, who in their despair, self-inflicted injuries attempting to abort with elements such as stick, branches, onion wedges, alum bars and clothing hooks among others. Among so many deaths, it was hard not having at least one woman per day in the morgue due to an unsafe abortion. During those time, healthcare was not handled from the biopsychosocial, but only from the technical (2); nonetheless, in the academic evaluations that were performed, when asked about the definition of health, we had to recite the text from the International Organization of Health that included these three aspects. How contradictory! To give response to the health need of women and guarantee their right when I was already a professor, I began an obstetric contraceptive service in that third level hospital. There was resistance from the directors, but fortunately I was able to acquire international donations for the institution, which facilitated its acceptance. I decided to undertake a teaching career with the hope of being able to sensitize health professionals towards an integral focus of health and illness. When the International Conference of Population and Development (ICPD) was held in Cairo in 1994, I had already spent various years in teaching, and when I read their Action Program, I found a name for what I was working on: Sexual and Reproductive Rights. I began to incorporate the tools given by this document into my professional and teaching life. I was able to sensitize people at my countries Health Ministry, and we worked together moving it to an approach of human rights in areas of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This new viewpoint, in addition to being integral, sought to give answers to old problems like maternal mortality, adolescent pregnancy, low contraceptive prevalence, unplanned or unwanted pregnancy or violence against women. With other sensitized people, we began with these SRH issues to permeate the Colombian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, some universities, and university hospitals. We are still fighting in a country that despite many difficulties has improved its indicators of SRH. With the experience of having labored in all sphere of these topics, we manage to create, with a handful of colleagues and friend at the Universidad El Bosque, a Master's Program in Sexual and Reproductive Health, open to all professions, in which we broke several paradigms. A program was initiated in which the qualitative and quantitative investigation had the same weight, and some alumni of the program are now in positions of leadership in governmental and international institutions, replicating integral models. In the Latin American Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FLASOG, English acronym) and in the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO), I was able to apply my experience for many years in the SRH committees of these association to benefit women and girls in the regional and global environments. When I think of who has inspired me in these fights, I should highlight the great feminist who have taught me and been with me in so many fights. I cannot mention them all, but I have admired the story of the life of Margaret Sanger with her persistence and visionary outlook. She fought throughout her whole life to help the women of the 20th century to be able to obtain the right to decide when and whether or not they wanted to have children (3). Of current feminist, I have had the privilege of sharing experiences with Carmen Barroso, Giselle Carino, Debora Diniz and Alejandra Meglioli, leaders of the International Planned Parenthood Federation – Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF-RHO). From my country, I want to mention my countrywoman Florence Thomas, psychologist, columnist, writer and Colombo-French feminist. She is one of the most influential and important voices in the movement for women rights in Colombia and the region. She arrived from France in the 1960's, in the years of counterculture, the Beatles, hippies, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre, a time in which capitalism and consumer culture began to be criticized (4). It was then when they began to talk about the female body, female sexuality and when the contraceptive pill arrived like a total revolution for women. Upon its arrival in 1967, she experimented a shock because she had just assisted in a revolution and only found a country of mothers, not women (5). That was the only destiny for a woman, to be quiet and submissive. Then she realized that this could not continue, speaking of "revolutionary vanguards" in such a patriarchal environment. In 1986 with the North American and European feminism waves and with her academic team, they created the group "Mujer y Sociedad de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia", incubator of great initiatives and achievements for the country (6). She has led great changes with her courage, the strength of her arguments, and a simultaneously passionate and agreeable discourse. Among her multiple books, I highlight "Conversaciones con Violeta" (7), motivated by the disdain towards feminism of some young women. She writes it as a dialogue with an imaginary daughter in which, in an intimate manner, she reconstructs the history of women throughout the centuries and gives new light of the fundamental role of feminism in the life of modern women. Another book that shows her bravery is "Había que decirlo" (8), in which she narrates the experience of her own abortion at age twenty-two in sixty's France. My work experience in the IPPF-RHO has allowed me to meet leaders of all ages in diverse countries of the region, who with great mysticism and dedication, voluntarily, work to achieve a more equal and just society. I have been particularly impressed by the appropriation of the concept of sexual and reproductive rights by young people, and this has given me great hope for the future of the planet. We continue to have an incomplete agenda of the action plan of the ICPD of Cairo but seeing how the youth bravely confront the challenges motivates me to continue ahead and give my years of experience in an intergenerational work. In their policies and programs, the IPPF-RHO evidences great commitment for the rights and the SRH of adolescent, that are consistent with what the organization promotes, for example, 20% of the places for decision making are in hands of the young. Member organizations, that base their labor on volunteers, are true incubators of youth that will make that unassailable and necessary change of generations. In contrast to what many of us experienced, working in this complicated agenda of sexual and reproductive health without theoretical bases, today we see committed people with a solid formation to replace us. In the college of medicine at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the College of Nursing at the Universidad El Bosque, the new generations are more motivated and empowered, with great desire to change the strict underlying structures. Our great worry is the onslaught of the ultra-right, a lot of times better organized than us who do support rights, that supports anti-rights group and are truly pro-life (9). Faced with this scenario, we should organize ourselves better, giving battle to guarantee the rights of women in the local, regional, and global level, aggregating the efforts of all pro-right organizations. We are now committed to the Objectives of Sustainable Development (10), understood as those that satisfy the necessities of the current generation without jeopardizing the capacity of future generations to satisfy their own necessities. This new agenda is based on: - The unfinished work of the Millennium Development Goals - Pending commitments (international environmental conventions) - The emergent topics of the three dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic, and environmental. We now have 17 objectives of sustainable development and 169 goals (11). These goals mention "universal access to reproductive health" many times. In objective 3 of this list is included guaranteeing, before the year 2030, "universal access to sexual and reproductive health services, including those of family planning, information, and education." Likewise, objective 5, "obtain gender equality and empower all women and girls", establishes the goal of "assuring the universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in conformity with the action program of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Action Platform of Beijing". It cannot be forgotten that the term universal access to sexual and reproductive health includes universal access to abortion and contraception. Currently, 830 women die every day through preventable maternal causes; of these deaths, 99% occur in developing countries, more than half in fragile environments and in humanitarian contexts (12). 216 million women cannot access modern contraception methods and the majority live in the nine poorest countries in the world and in a cultural environment proper to the decades of the seventies (13). This number only includes women from 15 to 49 years in any marital state, that is to say, the number that takes all women into account is much greater. Achieving the proposed objectives would entail preventing 67 million unwanted pregnancies and reducing maternal deaths by two thirds. We currently have a high, unsatisfied demand for modern contraceptives, with extremely low use of reversible, long term methods (intrauterine devices and subdermal implants) which are the most effect ones with best adherence (14). There is not a single objective among the 17 Objectives of Sustainable Development where contraception does not have a prominent role: from the first one that refers to ending poverty, going through the fifth one about gender equality, the tenth of inequality reduction among countries and within the same country, until the sixteenth related with peace and justice. If we want to change the world, we should procure universal access to contraception without myths or barriers. We have the moral obligation of achieving the irradiation of extreme poverty and advancing the construction of more equal, just, and happy societies. In emergency contraception (EC), we are very far from reaching expectations. If in reversible, long-term methods we have low prevalence, in EC the situation gets worse. Not all faculties in the region look at this topic, and where it is looked at, there is no homogeneity in content, not even within the same country. There are still myths about their real action mechanisms. There are countries, like Honduras, where it is prohibited and there is no specific medicine, the same case as in Haiti. Where it is available, access is dismal, particularly among girls, adolescents, youth, migrants, afro-descendent, and indigenous. The multiple barriers for the effective use of emergency contraceptives must be knocked down, and to work toward that we have to destroy myths and erroneous perceptions, taboos and cultural norms; achieve changes in laws and restrictive rules within countries, achieve access without barriers to the EC; work in union with other sectors; train health personnel and the community. It is necessary to transform the attitude of health personal to a service above personal opinion. Reflecting on what has occurred after the ICPD in Cairo, their Action Program changed how we look at the dynamics of population from an emphasis on demographics to a focus on the people and human rights. The governments agreed that, in this new focus, success was the empowerment of women and the possibility of choice through expanded access to education, health, services, and employment among others. Nonetheless, there have been unequal advances and inequality persists in our region, all the goals were not met, the sexual and reproductive goals continue beyond the reach of many women (15). There is a long road ahead until women and girls of the world can claim their rights and liberty of deciding. Globally, maternal deaths have been reduced, there is more qualified assistance of births, more contraception prevalence, integral sexuality education, and access to SRH services for adolescents are now recognized rights with great advances, and additionally there have been concrete gains in terms of more favorable legal frameworks, particularly in our region; nonetheless, although it's true that the access condition have improved, the restrictive laws of the region expose the most vulnerable women to insecure abortions. There are great challenges for governments to recognize SRH and the DSR as integral parts of health systems, there is an ample agenda against women. In that sense, access to SRH is threatened and oppressed, it requires multi-sector mobilization and litigation strategies, investigation and support for the support of women's rights as a multi-sector agenda. Looking forward, we must make an effort to work more with youth to advance not only the Action Program of the ICPD, but also all social movements. They are one of the most vulnerable groups, and the biggest catalyzers for change. The young population still faces many challenges, especially women and girls; young girls are in particularly high risk due to lack of friendly and confidential services related with sexual and reproductive health, gender violence, and lack of access to services. In addition, access to abortion must be improved; it is the responsibility of states to guarantee the quality and security of this access. In our region there still exist countries with completely restrictive frameworks. New technologies facilitate self-care (16), which will allow expansion of universal access, but governments cannot detach themselves from their responsibility. Self-care is expanding in the world and can be strategic for reaching the most vulnerable populations. There are new challenges for the same problems, that require a re-interpretation of the measures necessary to guaranty the DSR of all people, in particular women, girls, and in general, marginalized and vulnerable populations. It is necessary to take into account migrations, climate change, the impact of digital media, the resurgence of hate discourse, oppression, violence, xenophobia, homo/transphobia, and other emergent problems, as SRH should be seen within a framework of justice, not isolated. We should demand accountability of the 179 governments that participate in the ICPD 25 years ago and the 193 countries that signed the Sustainable Development Objectives. They should reaffirm their commitments and expand their agenda to topics not considered at that time. Our region has given the world an example with the Agreement of Montevideo, that becomes a blueprint for achieving the action plan of the CIPD and we should not allow retreat. This agreement puts people at the center, especially women, and includes the topic of abortion, inviting the state to consider the possibility of legalizing it, which opens the doors for all governments of the world to recognize that women have the right to choose on maternity. This agreement is much more inclusive: Considering that the gaps in health continue to abound in the region and the average statistics hide the high levels of maternal mortality, of sexually transmitted diseases, of infection by HIV/AIDS, and the unsatisfied demand for contraception in the population that lives in poverty and rural areas, among indigenous communities, and afro-descendants and groups in conditions of vulnerability like women, adolescents and incapacitated people, it is agreed: 33- To promote, protect, and guarantee the health and the sexual and reproductive rights that contribute to the complete fulfillment of people and social justice in a society free of any form of discrimination and violence. 37- Guarantee universal access to quality sexual and reproductive health services, taking into consideration the specific needs of men and women, adolescents and young, LGBT people, older people and people with incapacity, paying particular attention to people in a condition of vulnerability and people who live in rural and remote zone, promoting citizen participation in the completing of these commitments. 42- To guarantee, in cases in which abortion is legal or decriminalized in the national legislation, the existence of safe and quality abortion for non-desired or non-accepted pregnancies and instigate the other States to consider the possibility of modifying public laws, norms, strategies, and public policy on the voluntary interruption of pregnancy to save the life and health of pregnant adolescent women, improving their quality of life and decreasing the number of abortions (17).

The article by Chantal Medici that opens this issue of the magazine discusses critical contributions to the conventional theory of collective action inherited from the works seminars of Charles Tilly and the assumption of the sharpness of a hypothetical boundary between the public and the private, grouping them into three types of approach: those that emphasize the institutional activism of the State, those that do it in the construction of networks or communities of political attention and those that give special to the public / private articulation in the construction of the problem and in its implementation. Revised contributions are connected with a variety of approaches from Political Science, in particular the thesis of Lindblom on the relationship between states and markets in policymaking public, Migdal's statement about "the State in society" or, in our America, the Carlos Matus' theory on the complexity of the social game. Sofya Surtayeva's text shows the strategic role of the State in gestation and development of a public policy in a highly complex matter, in a country on the semi-periphery of the capitalism. Almost two decades ago our compatriot Hugo Notcheff demonstrated the close linking the dependent character of Argentine capitalism and the consequent fragility of science and technology policy, with the guidance of the economic leadership towards the appreciation of its capital by means of obtaining extraordinary profits from the exploitation of natural resources, the availability of cheap labor and the obtaining of subsidies and other state-owned, much more than the stimulus to innovation technological scientist and a policy aimed at its development. The corollary is a modernization of the economy based on the importation of innovations from the central economies, favored by close integration with foreign capital, with an effect on the fragility of scientific and technological development policies and the preservation of dependency. Taking as a common thread the role of the National Atomic Energy Commission in the development of nanotechnology the author shows the peculiarities of a process of innovation in a double facet: the promotion of an area of knowledge and the promotion by the CNEA of its own approach more akin to a sustainable development strategy and greater national autonomy. The article also provides a detailed approach to plurality of actors and interests, the relevance of leadership in the definition of politics and the gravitation of all this in the scientific-technological development and the insertion in the subject and the gravitation of the different possible responses in the insertion of Argentina in the global system. In this line of elaboration, Mariano Gil describes the public policies implemented in the province of Santa Fe to address problematic substance use. His work highlights the various public, private and community actors that intervene with unequal effectiveness in the construction of the problem, the incidence of that construction in the actions and organisms that will have to face it, the modifications that the adopted policy undergoes as it is being implemented and that same implementation introduces changes in the settings, in the subjects to whom it is addressed, in the state apparatuses and in the agents who are in charge of implementation. Bureaucrats, political decision-makers, non-governmental organizations, families, public security organizations, professionals and health technicians make up a wide range of subjects that intervene in the management of politics. For his part Miguel Alfredo and Pablo Granovsky deal with two experiences of training centers professional within the framework of actors that intervene at the intersection between education policies, labor policies and categorical organizations: the management cases of professional training policies of the UOCRA (Unión Obrera de la Construcción of the Argentine Republic) and the SMATA (Union of Mechanics and Transport Related Automotive). The article by Pablo Schamber and Francisco Suárez offers a detailed analysis of an experience of state / social actors articulation in the execution of a policy urban environment, through the inclusion of informal collectors of recyclable waste in the state policy of waste management. An experience that, in the opinion of authors, surpasses any other existing in the world. Beyond the specificity of their study topics, the three articles highlight the plurality of actors who participate from both "side" of the public-private differentiation in each of these topics, in the effort to configure a policy that is forever tool of a construction of power that, insofar as it institutionalizes some form of transaction between those who participate, is projected towards more broader than the specific ones. The promotion of public education is normally presented as a way for the reduction of levels of social inequality: a typical "window of opportunity". Judith Pinos Montenegro discusses this issue in her work on the promotion of basic education in Ecuador during the governments of the Citizen Revolution. The polysemy of the word equality stands out as it appears in official documents, increased due to the multiethnic nature of Ecuadorian society and the cultural contradictions and of class that are registered between public and private education. Jose Candelario Osuna García addresses the issue from the perspective of the temporary displacement of thousands of low-income Mexican families for work reasons, which leads to the interruption of the school career of the children and young people involved in these migrations and relativizes in this regard, the principle of equality in access to the right to education. Article focuses on the Education Program for Migrant Populations prepared by the government of the state of Baja California, in order to minimize the risks in terms of training school and cultural derived from the insertion of families in the cross-border structure of the labor market and the productive system. It is easy to see then that the mode of insertion in the social matrix conditions the effective access to rights. Poor peasants, migrant workers, native populations referred to in the preceding texts see their opportunities reduced education because of the position they occupy in that social matrix; in the absence of intervention state inequalities are strengthened because the educational system does not comply with these subjects the promotional function that should contribute to a change in their position in the structure. The political regime, with its own conception of equality, reinforces and expands or limits and neutralizes the dominant system of inequalities. Aristotle twenty-five centuries ago He emphasized that the prevailing ideas regarding equality and inequality and their causes vary according to the political regime, that is, to the organization and distribution of power. By changing the political regime, sooner or later the ideas of equality change, and therefore justice promoted by the State and public policies. The assumption in Uruguay in March 2020 of a neoliberal government implied important changes in policies social in general and care in particular, in sharp contrast to those that characterized to the fifteen previous years of government of the Broad Front. Ximena Baráibar Ribero analyzes the conceptualization of the new government's policy of assistance to populations in situation of poverty: a set of actions to encourage individual self-improvement and personal responsibility of those affected, and a residual role of the State. Poverty and inequality are, in the intellectual design of the new authorities, individual phenomena both in its causes as well as its effects. Social policies would have no other purpose than to facilitate a transit to individual opportunities that are assumed discursively, not discussed as reality and leave aside the question of the social, that is, collective, factors that create conditions for the gestation and development of individual situations. Carlos M. Vilas director ; El artículo de Chantal Medici con que se inicia este número de la revista discute contribuciones críticas a la teoría convencional de la acción colectiva heredera de los trabajos seminales de Charles Tilly y del supuesto de la nitidez de una hipotética frontera entre lo público y lo privado, agrupándolas en tres tipos de abordaje: las que ponen énfasis en el activismo institucional del Estado, las que lo hacen en la construcción de redes o co[1]munidades de políticas y las que dan especial atención a la articulación público/privado en la construcción del problema y en su implementación. Las contribuciones revisadas entroncan con una variedad de enfoques desde la Ciencia Política, en particular la tesis de Lindblom sobre la relación entre estados y mercados en la formación de las políticas públicas, el planteo de Migdal sobre "el Estado en la sociedad" o, en nuestra América, la teoría de Carlos Matus sobre la complejidad del juego social. El texto de Sofya Surtayeva muestra el rol estratégico del Estado en la gestación y desarrollo de una política pública en un asunto de alta complejidad, en un país de la semiperiferia del capitalismo. Hace casi dos décadas nuestro compatriota Hugo Notcheff demostró la estrecha vinculación del carácter dependiente del capitalismo argentino y la consiguiente fragilidad de la política de ciencia y tecnología, con la orientación de la cúpula del poder económico hacia la valorización de su capital por la vía de la obtención de ganancias extraordinarias de la explotación de recursos naturales, la disponibilidad de trabajo barato y la obtención de subsidios y otras preferencias estatales, mucho más que del estímulo a la innovación científico tecnológica y a una política encaminada a su desarrollo. El corolario es una modernización de la economía basada en la importación de innovaciones provenientes de las economías centrales, favorecida por la estrecha integración con capitales extranjeros, con efecto en la fragilidad de las políticas de desarrollo científico y tecnológico y la preservación de la dependencia. Tomando como hilo conductor el papel de la Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica en el desarrollo de la nanotecnología la autora muestra las particularidades de un proceso de innovación en una doble faceta: el impulso a un área de conocimiento y la promoción por la CNEA de un enfoque propio más afín a una estrategia de desarrollo sostenible y mayor autonomía nacional. El artículo brinda asimismo una detallada aproximación a la pluralidad de actores e intereses, la relevancia del liderazgo en la definición de la política y la gravitación de todo ello en el desarrollo científico-tecnológico y la inserción en el tema y la gravitación de las diferentes respuestas posibles en la inserción de Argentina en el sistema global. En esta línea de elaboración, Mariano Gil describe las políticas públicas ejecutadas en la provincia de Santa Fe para el abordaje del consumo problemático de sustancias. Su trabajo destaca los varios actores públicos, privados y comunitarios que intervienen con desigual eficacia en la construcción del problema, la incidencia de esa construcción en las acciones y organismos que habrán de encararlo, las modificaciones que la política adoptada experimenta a medida que va siendo implementada y esa misma implementación introduce cambios en los escenarios, en los sujetos a quienes se dirige, en los aparatos del estado y en los agentes que tienen a cargo la implementación. Burócratas, decisores políticos, organizaciones no gubernamentales, familias, organismos de seguridad pública, profesionales y técnicos de la salud integran un arco amplio de sujetos que intervienen en la gestión de la política. Por su parte Miguel Alfredo y Pablo Granovsky se ocupan de dos experiencias de centros de formación profesional en el marco del entramado de actores que intervienen en la intersección entre políticas de educación, políticas laborales y organizaciones categoriales: los casos de gestión de políticas de formación profesional de la UOCRA (Unión Obrera de la Construcción de la República Argentina) y del SMATA (Sindicato de Mecánicos y Afines del Transporte Automotor). El artículo de Pablo Schamber y Francisco Suárez ofrece un detallado análisis de una experiencia de articulación estado/actores sociales en la ejecución de una política ambiental urbana, a través de la inclusión de los recolectores informales de residuos reciclables en la política estatal de gestión de los residuos. Una experiencia que, a juicio de los autores, supera cualquier otra existente en el mundo. Más allá de la especificidad de sus temas de estudio, los tres artículos destacan la pluralidad de actores que participan desde uno y otro "lado" de la diferenciación público-privada en cada uno de esos temas, en el empeño de configurar una política que es siempre herramienta de una construcción de poder que, en la medida en que institucionaliza alguna forma de transacción entre quienes participan, se proyecta hacia ámbitos más amplios que los específicos. El fomento de la educación pública es presentado normalmente como una vía para la reducción de los niveles de desigualdad social: una típica "ventana de oportunidades". Judith Pinos Montenegro discute este asunto en su trabajo sobre la promoción de la educación básica en Ecuador durante los gobiernos de la Revolución Ciudadana. Destaca la polisemia del vocablo igualdad como aparece en los documentos oficiales, incrementada por la naturaleza pluriétnica de la sociedad ecuatoriana y las contradicciones culturales y de clase que se registran entre la educación pública y la privada. José Candelario Osuna García encara el tema desde la perspectiva del desplazamiento temporal de miles de familias mexicanas de bajos ingresos por razones laborales, que lleva a la interrupción de la trayectoria escolar de los niños, niñas y jóvenes involucrados en esas migraciones y relativiza a su respecto el principio de igualdad en el acceso al derecho a la educación. El artículo enfoca el Programa de Educación para Poblaciones Migrantes elaborado por el gobierno del estado de Baja California, con el fin de minimizar los riesgos en materia de formación escolar y cultural derivados de la inserción de las familias en la estructura transfronteriza del mercado de trabajo y el sistema productivo. Fácilmente se advierte entonces que el modo de inserción en la matriz social condiciona el acceso efectivo a derechos. Los campesinos pobres, los trabajadores migrantes, las poblaciones originarias a quienes se refieren los textos precedentes ven reducidas sus oportunidades de educación por la posición que ocupan en esa matriz social; en ausencia de intervención estatal las desigualdades se potencian porque el sistema educativo no cumple respecto de esos sujetos la función promocional que debería contribuir a un cambio en su posición en la estructura. El régimen político, con su propia concepción de la igualdad, refuerza y expande o acota y neutraliza el sistema dominante de desigualdades. Hace veinticinco siglos Aristóteles destacó que las ideas predominantes en materia de igualdad y desigualdad y sus causas va[1]rían de acuerdo al régimen político, es decir a la organización y distribución del poder. Cambiando el régimen político, cambian antes o después las ideas de igualdad, y por tanto de justicia promovidas desde el Estado y las políticas públicas. La asunción en Uruguay en marzo 2020 de un gobierno de corte neoliberal implicó cambios importantes en las políticas sociales en general y asistenciales en particular, de fuerte contraste con las que caracterizaron a los quince años precedentes de gobierno del Frente Amplio. Ximena Baráibar Ribero analiza la conceptualización de la política del nuevo gobierno de asistencia a poblaciones en situación de pobreza: un conjunto de acciones de estímulo a la superación individual y la responsabilidad personal de los afectados, y un papel residual del Estado. Pobreza y desigualdad son, en el diseño intelectual de las nuevas autoridades, fenómenos individuales tanto en sus causas como en sus efectos. Las políticas sociales no tendrían otro fin que facilitar un tránsito a oportunidades individuales que se asumen discursivamente, no se discuten como realidad y dejan de lado la pregunta sobre los factores sociales, es decir colectivos, que crean condiciones para la gestación y desarrollo de las situaciones individuales. Carlos M. Vilas Director

La presente tesis, de orientación etnobotánica, se ha centrado en las plantas combustibles empleadas en diferentes contextos pluriculturales de la Ribera Platense, desde el delta del Paraná inferior hasta Punta Indio. El objetivo general de esta investigación es identificar y evaluar el Conocimiento Botánico sobre las especies vegetales localmente utilizadas como combustible y aquellas que podrían emplearse para tal fin en el área de estudio. Además, aportar las bases que posibiliten crear futuros proyectos de recolección sustentable, en distintos contextos bioculturales de la Ribera Platense, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. En este marco, se propone difundir los resultados de esta investigación entre los actores involucrados de modo de generar las condiciones para un manejo participativo de los recursos. Para dar cumplimiento al objetivo, se han empleado de forma articulada las metodologías propias de la etnobotánica y etnobotánica histórica. Se aplicaron métodos y técnicas cualitativas usuales. Se realizaron 65 entrevistas a personas de ambos sexos y diferentes edades, 31 en sitios de expendio de leña y carbón, y 34 en sitios de consumo de leña. Además, se realizaron 81 encuestas a los miembros de la comunidad educativa en una escuela de Punta Lara y otra de Punta del Indio. En total, se relevaron 56 etnotaxones comercializados y empleados como combustible en la Ribera Platense, en su mayoría exóticos. También se relevó el empleo de combustibles alternativos a la leña. Por otra parte, se realizó la búsqueda de documentación histórica de siglos los XVI-XX en relación al empleo de leña en el pasado y también sobre los cambios ocurridos en el paisaje rioplatense. Tanto las encuestas como las entrevistas realizadas a los consumidores de leña, revelan que esta se obtiene mayormente a través de la recolección en los alrededores de las viviendas, de la compra y la combinación de ambas estrategias. El principal destino de la leña es la calefacción de las viviendas. Se presentan resultados acerca de las plantas preferidas para usar como combustible, así como de las características de las mismas (producción de brasa y llama, emisión de calor, entre otras). Los etnotaxones preferidos en el Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires (AMBA) son: "quebracho colorado", "eucalipto", "plátano", "ligustro" y "ligustrina". En el Parque Costero del Sur (PCS) y alrededores, los preferidos son: "tala" y "coronillo". Asimismo, se ponen de relevancia las restricciones de uso debido a la legislación del PCS. Los resultados obtenidos en los sitios de expendio revelan el conocimiento del tema y la destreza de los entrevistados en la identificación de las maderas. La leña se expende a granel y en bolsas. Sus principales clientes son personas particulares. En el AMBA, la leña se obtiene a través de la compra que proviene de otras zonas de la Argentina y de la extracción de madera de la zona de estudio. En cambio, dentro del PCS se obtiene en todos los casos a través de la compra y fuera del parque a través de la extracción en la zona. En el PCS y alrededores todos los entrevistados hicieron mención a las limitaciones para extraer la leña debido a la legislación del parque. Con respecto a los etnotaxones, en el AMBA, los más vendidos ("quebracho colorado" e "itín") son también los más valorados. En el PCS y alrededores, los más apreciados ("tala" y "coronillo") no son los más vendidos debido a las limitaciones para su extracción. Además, dentro del PCS todos los expendedores emplean leña en sus hogares, mientras que en el AMBA y por fuera del PCS menos de la mitad lo hace. En relación al Conocimiento Ecológico Local y a la percepción del cambio ambiental, los pobladores consideran que en la actualidad hay más cantidad de leña disponible en la zona. Los pobladores atribuyen la mayor cantidad de leña a la erosión de la costa y los incendios producidos, además de una mayor cantidad de montes implantados. Los cambios ocurridos en el PCS se deben principalmente a la creación del parque. Las fuentes documentales evidencian la importancia de los árboles en la vida de los pobladores y en la conformación del paisaje actual de la región rioplatense a través de la introducción de especies. En esta tesis se discute sobre el Conocimiento Botánico Local y las problemáticas asociadas al empleo de leña en la Ribera Platense; el impacto de esta actividad en la conservación de la flora nativa; los paradigmas de conservación; el manejo y uso del espacio; las valoraciones sobre las especies exóticas y los cambios ambientales. Asimismo, se discute sobre la importancia de la difusión de los resultados de las investigaciones etnobotánicas desarrolladas. Este estudio evidencia así mismo la importancia de los recursos vegetales como combustible en la Ribera Platense, los saberes que circulan en los diferentes enclaves y pone en relieve el Conocimiento Botánico Urbano y los saberes en torno a las especies exóticas, muchas veces desestimado. Además, la línea temporal permite visualizar el paisaje actual como resultado de la construcción y coevolución conjunta de las dimensiones biológicas y culturales. La principal causa del consumo de leña es la falta de acceso a otros tipos de combustibles al que los pobladores desearían poder acceder. Se relevaron dos situaciones diferentes en relación a la forma y cantidad de leña extraída. A nivel doméstico predomina la recolección, el reciclaje de maderas en desuso y el aprovechamiento de ramas producto de las podas. En cambio, en los sitios de expendio los entrevistados extraen grandes cantidades de leña de árboles en pie. Sin embargo, en ambos casos, se relevó el empleo de diversas especies, en mayor proporción exóticas. La principal problemática identificada es la falta de acceso a los recursos debido a la legislación vigente en relación a las Áreas protegidas. Se considera necesario replantear y discutir los objetivos y las estrategias de conservación así como incluir en estas discusiones a los pobladores locales, para lograr un verdadero desarrollo participativo y sustentable. En este sentido, el estudio realizado podría aportar a establecer las bases tendientes al desarrollo sustentable en la Ribera Platense. ; The present Doctoral thesis, of ethnobotanical orientation, has focused on the fuel plants used in different pluricultural contexts of the Río de la Plata Riverside, from the lower delta of the Paraná to Punta Indio. The general objective of this research is to identify and evaluate the Botanical Knowledge about the vegetable species locally used as fuel and those that could be used for this purpose in the study area. In addition, provide the bases that make it possible to create future projects of sustainable collection, in different biocultural contexts of the Ribera Platense, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In this framework, it is proposed to disseminate the results of this research among the actors involved in order to generate the conditions for a participatory management of resources. In order to accomplish the aims, ethnobotanical and historical ethnobotany methodologies have been used in an articulated way. Qualitative methods and techniques used in ethnobotany were applied. Sixty five interviews were carried out with people of both sexes and different ages, 31 in firewood and coal spending sites, and 34 in firewood consumption sites. In addition, 81 surveys were conducted to members of the educational community in a school in Punta Lara and another from Punta del Indio. In total, 56 ethnotaxa marketed and used as fuel were surveyed in Río de la Plata Riverside, most of them exotic. The use of alternative fuels to firewood was also recorded. In addition, the search of historical documentation of centuries XVI-XX was performed, related to the use of firewood in the past and also to the changes that have taken place in the Rio de la Plata landscape. Both the surveys and the interviews carried out with the consumers reveal that firewood is obtained mainly through gathering around the houses, the purchase and the combination of both strategies. The main destination of firewood is the heating of the houses. Results are presented about preferred plants to be used as fuel, as well as the characteristics thereof (production of embers and flame, heat emission, among others).The preferred ethnotaxa in the Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires (AMBA) are: "quebracho colorado", "eucalipto", "plátano", "ligustro" and "ligustrina". In the Parque Costero del Sur (PCS) and surroundings, the preferred are "tala" and "coronillo". In this sense, restrictions on use due to the PCS legislation become relevant. The results obtained in the sale sites show the knowledge of the subject and the skill of the interviewees in the identification of the woods. Firewood is sold in bulk and in bags. Its main buyers are private people. In the AMBA, firewood is obtained through the purchase of that procedent from other areas of Argentina and the extraction of wood from the study area. However, within the PCS it is obtained in all cases through the purchase and outside the park, through extraction in the area. In the PCS and surroundings, all the interviewees mentioned the limitations to extract the firewood due to the park's legislation. Regarding to the ethnotaxa in AMBA, the best sellers ("quebracho" and "itín") are also the most valued. In the PCS and surroundings, the most appreciated ("tala" and "coronillo") are not the best sellers due to the limitations for their extraction. In addition, within the PCS all the sellers use firewood in their homes, while in the AMBA and outside the PCS less than half do it. In relation to the Local Ecological Knowledge and the perception of the environmental change, the dwellers consider that at present there is more quantity of firewood available in the zone. They attribute the greater amount of firewood to the erosion of the coast and intentional fires, in addition to a significative increase of implanted forest. The changes that occurred in the PCS are mainly due to the creation of the park. The documentary sources show the importance of the trees in the life of the dwellers and in the conformation of the current landscape of the Río de la Plata region through the introduction of species. In this thesis discussion is produced about Local Botanical Knowledge and the issue associated with the use of firewood in Río de la Plata Riverside; the impact of this activity on the conservation of native flora; conservation paradigms; the use and management of space; the valuations on the exotic species and environmental changes. Furthermore, the importance of disseminating the results of the developed ethnobotanical research is approached. This study also evidences the importance of plant resources as fuel in La Plata riverside, the knowledge that circulates in the different enclaves and highlights the Urban Botanical Knowledge and knowledge about exotic species, often dismissed. In addition, the timeline allows visualizing the current landscape as a result of the joint construction and co-evolution of biological and cultural dimensions. The main cause of fuelwood consumption is the unavailability of other kind of fuels even though dwellers would like to have access to them. Two different situations were revealed in relation to the form and quantity of firewood extracted. Respect to domestic use, collection, recycling of disused wood and the use of pruning branches are predominant practices. On the other hand, at the sale sites, the interviewees extract large amounts of firewood from standing trees. However, in both cases, the use of different species, in a larger proportion of exotic ones, was recorded. The main problem identified is the lack of access to resources due to the current legislation in relation to Protected Areas. It is considered necessary to rethink and discuss conservation objectives and strategies as well as to include local residents in these discussions, in order to achieve true participatory and sustainable development. In this sense, the study carried out could contribute to establish the basis tending to sustainable use in Río de la Plata Riverside. ; Fil: Doumecq, María Belén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Laboratorio de Etnobotánica y Botánica Aplicada; Argentina

La vainilla (Vanilla planifolia), es una orquídea cuyo fruto es altamente valorado en el mercado nacional e internacional. Su centro de origen y distribución es México y parte de Centro América. En nuestro país, ha sido intensamente aprovechada desde la época precolombina, por lo que su extracción desmedida, así como la reducción de la variabilidad genética y la fragmentación de su hábitat, han provocado la disminución de las poblaciones naturales. Actualmente se encuentra citada en la Norma Oficial Mexicana 059 (NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010), bajo la categoría de Protección Especial. La producción de vainilla ha generado expectativas económicas, pues su alto valor en el mercado incentiva el establecimiento del cultivo, y se espera que genere ingresos que incidan en la calidad de vida de los productores locales. En la última década, se han canalizado diversos esfuerzos para incrementar la superficie sembrada y la productividad del cultivo. Las instituciones gubernamentales han destinado recursos económicos a la adquisición de material vegetativo y el establecimiento de nuevas plantaciones, así como a la capacitación y asistencia técnica. Por su parte, las instituciones de investigación, han dirigido sus esfuerzos en satisfacer las demandas del agro, particularmente en áreas como la reproducción de la especie, la caída del fruto, el bajo rendimiento y la conservación. En San Luis Potosí, desde el año 2002 se han aprobado diversos proyectos dirigidos al establecimiento de sistemas de producción, y al acompañamiento técnico productivo y empresarial. En la Huasteca potosina, la vainilla se cultiva en trece municipios de la región centro-sur, bajo tres principales sistemas de producción: la casa malla sombra, la asociación con cítricos y los sistemas agroforestales tradicionales. Las políticas agrícolas han incentivado el desarrollo de sistemas de producción simplificados como la casa malla sombra y los monocultivos, proyectando una alta productividad en pequeñas superficies, pero cuyos resultados no han sido los esperados. Aunado a lo anterior, los costos son poco accesibles para pequeños productores. Son además sistemas vulnerables desde el enfoque socioambiental; susceptibles a los fenómenos meteorológicos y a la presencia de plagas o enfermedades, con escasos reservorios de biodiversidad, de manera que impacta en la seguridad y la soberanía alimentaria, ya que entonces el productor depende del ingreso que le provea la cosecha de una sola especie, para satisfacer sus bienes y servicios. En contraste con los sistemas simplificados, existen también sistemas de producción tradicionales, como el sistema agroforestal. Los sistemas agroforestales tradicionales (SAT) guardan semejanza con un ecosistema natural, porque son altamente biodiversos y el manejo es mínimo, por lo que son considerados de bajo impacto. Son además valorados por los conocimientos bioculturales entorno a ellos. Establecer vainilla en estos sistemas, implica un menor costo y menor riesgo de plagas y daños naturales. Entre sus fortalezas también se encuentra el contar con individuos silvestres o "asilvestrados" de vainilla que, bajo un apropiado manejo, pueden ser plantas apropiadas para el cultivo. El rendimiento entre los diferentes sistemas de producción sigue siendo escaso y muy semejante, de manera que se observan muchas más ventajas en un sistema de producción tradicional, económico, resiliente y menos vulnerable, que además ha permanecido por siglos en la región. En la región, se requiere incrementar las superficies y la densidad de siembra con planta saludable y adaptada a la región. Considerando las bondades del sistema tradicional, éste ha sido seleccionado como objeto de estudio y se pretende satisfacer las siguientes interrogantes: • ¿cuál es el potencial para la conservación de la vainilla local? • ¿de qué manera influyen los factores sociopolíticos-económicos-culturales en el gradiente de producción de vainilla en el sistema tradicional? • ¿qué implicaciones tendría la micropropagación de vainilla con sustratos orgánicos para satisfacer la demanda de material vegetativo? Los objetivos de la investigación fueron identificar la distribución actual y potencial de Vanilla planifolia Jacks. ex Andrews. y diseñar acciones para su conservación; caracterizar los sistemas agroforestales donde se produce la vainilla, para tipificarlos con base en sus particularidades de manejo y establecer un protocolo de regeneración in vitro de V. planifolia a través del uso de extractos naturales en la Huasteca Potosina. Para ello, se realizaron consultas en herbarios, recorridos de campo, entrevistas con los productores de vainilla y talleres participativos con habitantes locales. Se llevó a cabo un análisis espacial basado en sistemas de información geográfica, para conocer las características ambientales de los sitios con presencia de la especie y se modelizó su distribución potencial. Asimismo, se analizaron 355 casos, obteniéndose 135 variables agronómicas y de características del productor. La información se complementó con un análisis espacial basado en un SIG para definir patrón espacial de distribución de dichos sistemas. Para la tipología se aplicó el análisis de conglomerado en dos fases. Finalmente, se cultivaron semillas estériles en medio sin reguladores de crecimiento vegetal para obtener protocormos como explantes. Una vez formados los protocormos, estos se sembraron en los medios de cultivo suplementados con los extractos orgánicos de piña, plátano y agua de coco y un medio control, el cual no contenía la adición de ningún extracto. En la Huasteca Potosina, se ubicaron 28 sitios con presencia del taxón bajo estudio, la mayoría en sistemas agroforestales tradicionales y, menor proporción, en los relictos de selva mediana que aún persisten en la región, anclados a los tutores que les proveen el soporte necesario. Su distribución potencial se estimó en 85.5 km2. El germoplasma sin procesos de domesticación y adaptado a las condiciones ambientales que se identificó, tiene posibilidades de ser conservado. Los poseedores de este recurso genético, consideran que una Unidad de Manejo de la Vida Silvestre sería la forma más adecuada para lograr su conservación in situ. En la región existen tres grupos de productores, que se diferencian por la cantidad de actividades realizadas para la producción de vainilla, el número de tutores empleados y la pertenencia a un grupo étnico. Los sistemas de la etnia Tének presentan menos modificaciones comparados con los sistemas nahuas. Éstos últimos, incluso comienzan a especializarse en el manejo de especies comerciales, pero aún conservan algunos rasgos de los sistemas originales. Los tratamientos de germinación mostraron que el mejor tratamiento fue el medio con extracto de piña, en donde se observó la formación de 5.7 ± 3.5 brotes de 36.9 ± 7.3 mm de altura, y la formación de 2.2 ± 0.5 yemas por brote. Además, se logró la formación de 13.0 ± 1.1 raíces por brote con la adición de 0.5 mg L-1 de AIA y la preaclimatación de las plantas in vitro. ; Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), is an orchid whose fruit is highly valued in the national and international market. Its center of origin and distribution is Mexico and part of Central America. In our country, it has been intensely exploited since the pre- Columbian era, so its excessive extraction, as well as the reduction of genetic variability, and the fragmentation of its habitat, have caused the decrease of natural populations. It is currently cited in Official Mexican Standard 059 (NOM-059- SEMARNAT-2010), in the category of Subject to Special Protection. Vanilla production has generated economic expectations, since its high market value encourages the establishment of the crop, and it is expected to generate income that improves the quality of life of local producers. In the last decade, various efforts have been channeled to increase the planted area and crop productivity. Government institutions have allocated financial resources to the acquisition of vegetative material and the establishment of new plantations, as well as to training and technical assistance. For their part, research institutions have directed their efforts to meet the demands of agriculture, such as the reproduction of the species, the fall of the fruit, the low yield and conservation. In San Luis Potosí, since 2002 several projects have been approved aimed at the establishment of production systems, and technical and productive technical support. In the Huasteca potosina, vanilla is grown in thirteen municipalities in the central-south region, under three main production systems: the shadow mesh house, the association with citrus fruits and traditional agroforestry systems. Agricultural policies have encouraged the development of simplified production systems such as the shadow mesh house and monocultures, projecting high productivity in small areas, but whose results have not been as expected. In addition to the above, the costs are not very accessible for small producers. They are also vulnerable systems from the socio-environmental approach; susceptible to meteorological phenomena and the presence of pests or diseases, reduce biodiversity reservoirs and ecosystem services, so that impacts on food security and sovereignty, since then the producer depends on the income provided by the crop to satisfy Your goods and services. In contrast to simplified systems, there are also traditional production systems, such as the agroforestry system. Traditional agroforestry systems (SAT) are similar to a natural ecosystem, because they are highly biodiverse and management is minimal, so they are considered low impact. They are also valued for the biocultural knowledge around them. To establish vanilla in these systems, implies a lower cost and less risk of plagues and natural damages. Among its strengths is also having wild or "feral" vanilla individuals that, under proper management, can be appropriate plants for cultivation. The yield between the different production systems remains scarce and very similar, so that many more advantages are observed in a traditional, economic, resilient and less vulnerable production system, which has also remained for centuries in the region. In the region, it is necessary to increase the areas and planting density with a healthy plant adapted to the region. Considering the benefits of the traditional system, it has been selected as an object of study and is intended to satisfy the following questions: • What is the potential for the conservation of local vanilla? • How do sociopolitical-economic-cultural factors influence the gradient of vanilla production in the traditional system? • What implications would vanilla micropropagation with organic substrates have to meet the demand for vegetative material? The objectives of the investigation were to identify the current and potential distribution from Vanilla planifolia Jacks. former Andrews., design actions for its conservation, characterize the agroforestry systems where vanilla is produced, to typify them based on its management characteristics and establish a protocol for in vitro regeneration of V. planifolia through the use of natural extracts in the Huasteca Potosina. To do this, consultations were conducted in herbariums, field trips, interviews with vanilla producers and participatory workshops with local inhabitants. It took carry out a spatial analysis based on geographic information systems, to know the environmental characteristics of the sites with the presence of the species and He modeled his potential distribution. Likewise, 355 cases were analyzed, obtaining 135 agronomic variables and characteristics of the producer. The information was complemented with a spatial analysis based on a GIS to define the spatial pattern of distribution of these systems. For the typology, the two-stage cluster analysis was applied. Finally, sterile seeds were grown in medium without plant growth regulators to obtain protoorms as explants. Once the protoorms were formed, they were sown in the culture media supplemented with the organic extracts of pineapple, banana and coconut water and a control medium, which did not contain the addition of any extract. In Huasteca Potosina, 28 sites were located with the presence of the taxon under study, the majority in traditional agroforestry systems and, to a lesser extent, in the relics of medium forest that still persist in the region, anchored to the tutors who. They provide the necessary support. Its potential distribution was estimated at 85.5 km2. The Germplasm without domestication processes and adapted to the environmental conditions that were identified, has the possibility of being conserved. The holders of this genetic resource, they consider a Wildlife Management Unit It would be the most appropriate way to achieve its conservation in situ. In the region there are three groups of producers, which are differentiated by the amount of activities carried out for the production of vanilla, the number of tutors employed and belonging to an ethnic group. The systems of the Tének ethnic group present less modifications compared to the Nahua systems. The latter even begin to specialize in the management of commercial species, but still retain some features of the original systems. Germination treatments showed that the best treatment was the medium with pineapple extract, where the formation of 5.7 ± 3.5 shoots of 36.9 ± 7.3 mm in height was observed, and the formation of 2.2 ± 0.5 buds per bud. In addition, the formation of 13.0 ± was achieved 1.1 roots per outbreak with the addition of 0.5 mg L-1 of AIA and pre-acclimatization of in vitro plants.

Esta Tesis Doctoral ofrece, desde una perspectiva analítica y comparatista, un estudio centrado en las interrelaciones entre Periodismo y Literatura y, más concretamente, profundiza en la valoración y análisis de la crónica de guerra y su particular incursión en los géneros narrativos breves, sobre todo en el ámbito de la novela corta española, en pleno auge a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX. De hecho, la novela corta de temática bélica se convirtió en esta época en un subgénero narrativo cultivado por numerosos autores españoles que a la misma vez ejercieron el periodismo. Por ello, se ofrece en este trabajo una panorámica de los corresponsales de guerra más representativos de cada episodio bélico –Primera y Segunda guerras mundiales y guerra de África– con la finalidad de atender particularmente al análisis interdiscursivo y comparado de las producciones cronísticas de hombres y mujeres corresponsales de guerra españoles a través de Sofía Casanova, Juan Pujol y Ramón Pérez de Ayala, referentes de la Gran Guerra; Carmen de Burgos, Xavier Bóveda y José Díaz Fernández, cronistas de la guerra del Rif; y Augusto Assía y Jacinto Miquelarena, entre otros corresponsales de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, como Manuel Pombo. Asimismo, se presta atención al estudio de los cambios que experimenta el texto cronístico en su versión novelada, lo que permite contrastar las novelas cortas de hombres y mujeres corresponsales y determinar el grado en que estas remiten a sus trabajos periodísticos, así como (re)valorizar a un tiempo el excepcional trabajo de periodistas como C. de Burgos o Sofía Casanova, quienes orientarán y marcarán la trayectoria de otras cronistas posteriores. El objetivo principal consiste en el estudio y análisis de los diversos modelos discursivos que nos ofrecen las crónicas de guerra, según su inserción en distintos períodos bélicos: guerra entre España y Marruecos en las primeras décadas del siglo XX, Primera Guerra Mundial y Segunda Guerra Mundial. Y a partir de tal análisis poder establecer un estudio comparativo sobre la evolución de la crónica de guerra en las mencionadas etapas. Y de manera similar, valorar los modelos de adecuación y conformación de la crónica de guerra a estructuras narrativo-ficcionales, así como los procesos de recepción para el lector en uno u otro dominio: el de la crónica periodística o el de novelas cortas y novelas que derivan de una o varias crónicas. Un objetivo que se enmarca en un análisis teórico-crítico regido por principios pragmáticos, semióticos, retóricos, estilísticos e ideológicos. De este objetivo principal se desprenden otros objetivos en nuestra investigación, entre los que destacamos los siguientes: 1. Estudio histórico-teórico sobre los géneros periodísticos: reportaje, artículo y crónica periodística, con el fin de fijar y delimitar las características propias de la crónica de guerra. 2. Deslinde de los problemáticos límites entre periodismo literario y literatura periodística. 3. Evolución de la crónica de guerra desde sus antecedentes más inmediatos, como, por ejemplo, serían los casos, en referencia a la Campaña de África de 1859-1860, de Gaspar Núñez de Arce y sus crónicas para el periódico La Iberia o el de Pedro Antonio de Alarcón (Diario de un testigo de la Guerra de África). 4. Función pragmático-comunicativa de la crónica de guerra periodística vs. Función emotiva y persuasiva de la crónica de guerra novelada. 5. Lo periodístico como material narrativo en la literatura femenina de la época. 6. Esbozar un perfil de la trayectoria y del quehacer periodístico, estilístico e ideológico de algunos de los cronistas más representativos en los diferentes periodos bélicos. 7. Dar de nuevo a la luz y recuperar una serie de crónicas que han quedado en el olvido en casos concretos. La metodología aplicada a este proyecto ha comprendido: - Una primera fase de recopilación bibliográfica: con la finalidad de recoger los datos necesarios que permitan el desarrollo de los aspectos relacionados con la temática planteada, se ha buscado información sobre el objeto de estudio a fin de conocer el estado de la cuestión. Para ello, se ha procedido a una exhaustiva revisión bibliográfica sobre aspectos teóricos y críticos relacionados con el género periodístico de la crónica de guerra y el género novelístico. - Selección de textos: se ha procedido a la búsqueda bibliográfica de estudios sobre corresponsales de guerra que ejercieron su labor en la época establecida y se han escogido los textos más representativos publicados, en uno y otro ámbito de estudio, de los autores y autoras seleccionados. A continuación, se ha llevado a cabo el análisis comparado de estos textos específicos pertenecientes a cada uno de los dominios estudiados (periodístico y novelístico), para lo que ha sido esencial indagar, previamente, en fuentes de primera mano; es decir, en Hemerotecas de los periódicos de la época, con la finalidad de obtener el suficiente número de crónicas de guerra que rentabilizasen este trabajo. Cabe reseñar, en función de lo anterior, la abundancia de material disponible, dado que hoy en día son muchos los periódicos, revistas y semanarios de la época digitalizados. Algo que ha supuesto una ardua tarea de lectura y de manera muy especial, la selección, como se decía, de aquellos textos que se han considerado más rentables y significativos para dicho análisis. Estas son las conclusiones: – El aceptado dogma de la objetividad periodística es un rasgo desautomatizado por el propio proceso de producción y edición de un texto que permite comprobar, en el caso de los cronistas seleccionados, cómo ante la más aparente objetividad de la crónica bélica existe toda una subjetividad imperante por parte del cronista como filtro de unos acontecimientos que da a conocer e interpreta desde la perspectiva personal de un "yo" individual; – La objetividad y la subjetividad traspasan los lindes establecidos entre periodismo y literatura y entre crónica de guerra y novela corta, lo que supone otra ruptura con las concepciones del siglo XVIII y las preceptivas del siglo XIX, que retrataban el periodismo como género menor incapaz de ascender a la categoría literaria. Así lo demuestran cronistas como Juan Pujol o Ramón Pérez de Ayala, grandes cultivadores del periodismo literario. – El análisis interdiscursivo de la crónica bélica demuestra también la influencia en los textos de la ideología política determinante en cada período bélico (por ejemplo, las tendencias aliadófilas y germanófilas durante la Primera Guerra Mundial) y en la finalidad de los textos en función de la postura del corresponsal. –El estudio comparado e interdiscursivo de la crónica confirma, tras la panorámica de autores que escribieron novelas cortas de temática bélica, una escritura que comparte numerosos rasgos estilísticos y recursos retóricos, tanto en las mujeres como en los hombres, orientados a una intención común: dar verosimilitud a su relato y "enganchar" a los lectores con apelaciones directas que apuntan a la emoción, al sufrimiento y, en definitiva, persiguen una identificación entre autor y lector. – Las novelas cortas, a través de las colecciones literarias de la época, vincularon el periodismo y la literatura al novelar crónicas bélicas de idéntica temática, dándole así al relato testimonial un carácter ficticio que provoca el salto del texto cronístico hacia lo literario. ABSTRACT: This doctoral thesis offers, from an analytical and comparative perspective, a study focusing on the interrelationships between Journalism and Literature, and more specifically, it delves into the war chronicle assessment and analysis and its particular inroads in the short narrative genre, especially in the field of the Spanish short novel, booming in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In fact, war short novel became during this time a narrative subgenre cultivated by numerous Spanish authors who simultaneously worked as journalists. Therefore, this paper provides an overview of the most distinguished war correspondents of each war period -First and Second World Wars and the War of Africa- in order to particularly attend to the compared and interdiscursive analysis of the chronicling productions of Spanish male and female war chroniclers through the works of Sofia Casanova, Juan Pujol and Ramón Perez de Ayala, regarding the Great War; Carmen de Burgos, Xavier Bóveda and José Díaz Fernández, chroniclers of the Rif War; and Augusto Assía and Jacinto Miquelarena, among other Second World War correspondents such as Manuel Pombo. In addition, attention has been paid to studying the changes undergone by the novel chronicling text, allowing for the examination of the short stories from male and female correspondents and determining the extent to which they refer to their journalistic productions, (re)valuing at a time the exceptional work of journalists such as C. de Burgos. The main purpose is the study and analysis of the various discursive models that war chronicles offer us according to their insertion in different war periods: the war between Spain and Morocco in the early twentieth century, World War I and World War II . Based on that analysis, we intend to establish comparative study on the evolution of the war chronicle in the aforementioned stages. Similarly, assessing the adequacy and adjustment models of war chronicle to fictional narrative structures and the reception processes by the reader in either domain: the feature story or the short stories and novels derived from one or more chronicles. An object that is part of a theoretical-critical analysis guided by pragmatic, semiotic, rhetorical, stylistic and ideological principles. From this main purpose other objectives are deduced in our research, among which the following stand out: 1. A historical and theoretical study of journalistic genres: news report, article and feature story, in order to establish and define the characteristics of chronic war chronicle. 2. Defining the problematic boundaries between literary journalism and journalistic literature. 3. How the war chronicle has evolved from its most immediate antecedents, such as would be the case, referring to the African Campaign 1859-1860 Gaspar Núñez de Arce and his chronicles for the newspaper La Iberia or Pedro Antonio de Alarcón (Diary of a witness of Africa War) both of them referring to The African Campaign 1859-1860. 4. Pragmatic-communicative function of journalistic war chronicle of war vs. Emotive and persuasive function of fictionalized war chronicle. 5. What journalism as narrative material in the women's literature of the time. 6. Outline the trajectory and the journalistic, stylistic and ideological work of some of the most representative chroniclers in various war periods. 7. Bringing back and publishing a series of chronicles fallen into oblivion in certain cases. The methodology applied to this project included: - A first phase of bibliographic compilation: in order to collect the necessary data to develop aspects related to the topic proposed, information about the object of study to know the status of the issue has been sought. To do this, an exhaustive bibliographic revision of the theoretical and critical aspects related to the genres of war chronicle journalism and novel. The bibliographic tracing of books, articles and other documents related to this field of study has allowed the provision of answers to the initial postulations and to the advance in the research. - Texts selection: A bibliographical search of studies on war correspondents who carried out their work in the selected period has been subsequently conducted, and the most representative texts published in both fields of study from the selected authors have been chosen. Afterwards, the compared analysis of these specific texts belonging to each of the fields studied (journalism and novel) has been performed, for which it has been essential to previously investigate first-hand sources; i.e. newspaper libraries of the time, with the aim of obtaining the sufficient number of war chronicles to make this a profitable work. It should be noted, based on the above, the abundance of material available, since nowadays there are many newspapers, and magazines of the time which have been digitized. Something that has turned into an arduous task reading and, more particularly, selecting, as mentioned above, those texts that are considered more profitable and significant to the analysis. The conclusions are: – The accepted dogma of journalistic objectivity is a feature deautomated by the production and editing process of text itself , which allows us to see, in the case of the selected chroniclers, that against the apparent objectivity of the war chronicle there is a prevalent subjectivity by the chronicler as the filter of certain events that he discloses and interprets from the personal perspective of an individual "I"; – Objectivity and subjectivity, in consequence, go beyond the established boundaries between journalism and literature and between the war chronicle and the novella, which implies another break with the conceptions of the eighteenth century and those prescriptive in the nineteenth century, which portrayed journalism as a minor genre unable to ascend to a literary category. This is demonstrated by chroniclers as Juan Pujol or Ramón Pérez de Ayala, two great promoters of literary journalism. – The interdiscursive analysis of war chronicle also shows the influence that the decisive ideological politics of each war period exerted upon texts (eg alliadophile trends and germanophile trends during World War II) and upon the purpose of those texts according to the correspondent's stance. – The Comparative and interdiscursive of chronicle confirms, after an overview of authors who wrote war-themed novellas, a writing style that shares many stylistic features and rhetorical resources used by both women and men and focused on a common purpose: making their stories authentic and "hooking" the readers by means of direct appeals that aim at feelings of emotion, suffering and, definitely, pursue an identification between author and reader. – Novellas, through the literary collections of the time, linked journalism and literature by novelizing war chronicles with identical themes, thus giving the testimonial story a fictional character that makes the chronicle text leap into the literary world.

En mi formación de posgrado a finales de los años ochenta, teníamos cerca de treinta camas hospitalarias en un pabellón llamado "sépticas" (1). En Colombia, donde el aborto estaba totalmente penalizado, allí estaban mayoritariamente mujeres con abortos inseguros complicados. El enfoque que recibíamos era técnico: manejo de cuidados intensivos; realizar histerectomías, colostomías, resecciones intestinales, etc. En esa época algunas enfermeras eran monjas, y se limitaban a interrogar a las pacientes para que "confesaran" qué se habían hecho para abortar. Siempre me inquietó que las mujeres que salían vivas se iban sin ninguna asesoría, ni con un método anticonceptivo. Al preguntar alguna vez a uno de mis docentes me contestó con desdén: "este es un hospital de tercer nivel, esas cosas las hacen las enfermeras en primer nivel". Al ver tanto dolor y muerte, decidí hablar con las pacientes del servicio y empecé a entender sus decisiones. Recuerdo aún con tristeza tantas muertes, pero un caso en particular aún me duele: era una mujer cercana a los cincuenta años que llegó con una perforación uterina en estado de sepsis avanzada. A pesar de la cirugía y los cuidados intensivos, falleció. Alcancé a hablar con ella y me contó que era viuda, tenía dos hijos mayores y había abortado por "vergüenza con ellos", pues se iban a dar cuenta de que tenía vida sexual activa. A los pocos días de su fallecimiento, me llamó el profesor de patología, extrañado, para decirme que el útero que habíamos enviado para examen patológico no tenía embarazo. Era una mujer en estado perimenopáusico con una prueba de embarazo falsamente positiva, debido a los altos niveles de FSH/LH típicos de su edad. ¡¡¡NO ESTABA EMBARAZADA!!! No tenía menstruación porque estaba en premenopausia y una prueba falsamente positiva la llevó a un aborto inseguro. Claro, las lesiones causadas en las maniobras abortivas la llevaron al desenlace fatal, pero la real causa subyacente fue el tabú social respecto a la sexualidad. Tuve que ver muchas adolescentes y mujeres jóvenes salir del hospital vivas, pero sin útero, a veces sin ovarios y con colostomías, para ser despreciadas por una sociedad que les recriminaba el haber decidido no ser madres. Tuve que ver situaciones de mujeres que llegaban con sus intestinos protruyendo a través de sus vaginas por abortos inseguros. Vi mujeres que en su desespero se autoinfligieron lesiones tratando de abortar con elementos como palos, ramas, gajos de cebolla, barras de alumbre, ganchos, entre otros. Eran tantas las muertes que era difícil no tener por lo menos una mujer diariamente en la morgue a consecuencia de un aborto inseguro. En esa época no se abordaba la salud desde lo biopsicosocial sino solamente desde lo técnico (2); sin embargo, en las evaluaciones académicas que nos hacían, ante la pregunta de definición de salud, había que recitar el texto de la Organización Mundial de la Salud que involucraba estos tres aspectos, ¡qué contrasentido! Para dar respuesta a las necesidades de salud de las mujeres y garantizar sus derechos, cuando ya era docente, inicié el servicio de anticoncepción posevento obstétrico en ese hospital de tercer nivel. Hubo resistencia de las directivas, pero afortunadamente logré donaciones internacionales para la institución y esto facilitó su aceptación. Decidí concursar para carrera docente con el ánimo de poder sensibilizar a profesionales de la salud hacia un enfoque integral de la salud y la enfermedad. Cuando en 1994 se realizó la Conferencia Internacional de Población y Desarrollo (CIPD) en El Cairo ya llevaba varios años en la docencia, y cuando leí su Programa de Acción, encontré nombre para lo que estaba trabajando: derechos sexuales y derechos reproductivos. Empecé a incorporar en mi vida profesional y docente las herramientas que este documento me daba. Pude sensibilizar personas del Ministerio de Salud de mi país y trabajamos en conjunto recorriéndolo con un abordaje de derechos humanos en materia de salud sexual y reproductiva (SSR). Esta nueva mirada buscaba además de ser integral, dar respuesta a viejos problemas como la mortalidad materna, el embarazo en la adolescencia, la baja prevalencia anticonceptiva, el embarazo no planeado o no deseado o la violencia contra la mujer. Con otras personas sensibilizadas empezamos a permear con estos temas de SSR la Sociedad Colombiana de Obstetricia y Ginecología, algunas universidades y hospitales universitarios. Todavía seguimos dando la lucha en un país que a pesar de tantas dificultades ha mejorado muchos indicadores de SSR. Con la experiencia de haber trajinado en todas las esferas con estos temas, logramos con un puñado de colegas y amigas de la Universidad El Bosque crear la Maestría en Salud Sexual y Reproductiva, abierta a todas las profesiones, en la que rompimos varios paradigmas. Se inició un programa en el que la investigación cualitativa y cuantitativa tenían el mismo peso y algunos de los egresados del programa están ahora en posiciones de liderazgo en los entes gubernamentales e internacionales replicando modelos integrales. En la Federación Latinoamericana de Obstetricia y Ginecología (FLASOG) y en la Federación Internacional de Obstetricia y Ginecología (FIGO), pude por varios años aportar mi experiencia en los comités de SSR de esas asociaciones para beneficio de las mujeres y las niñas en los ámbitos regional y global. Cuando pienso en quienes me han inspirado en esta lucha, debo resaltar las grandes feministas que me han enseñado y acompañado en tantas batallas. No puedo mencionarlas a todas, pero he admirado la historia de vida de Margaret Sanger con su persistencia y mirada visionaria. Ella luchó durante toda su vida para ayudar a las mujeres del siglo XX para que obtuvieran el derecho a decidir si querían o no tener hijos o hijas y cuándo (3). De las feministas actuales he tenido el privilegio de compartir experiencias con Carmen Barroso, Giselle Carino, Debora Diniz y Alejandra Meglioli, lideresas de la Federación Internacional de Planificación de la Familia, Región del Hemisferio Occidental (IPPF-RHO, por su nombre en inglés). De mi país quiero resaltar a mi compatriota Florence Thomas, psicóloga, columnista, escritora y activista feminista colombo-francesa. Es una de las voces más influyentes e importantes del movimiento por los derechos de la mujer en Colombia y en la región. Arribó procedente de Francia en la década de 1960, en los años de la contracultura, los Beatles, los hippies, Simone de Beauvoir y Jean-Paul Sartre, época en la que se empezó a criticar el capitalismo y la cultura del consumo (4). Fue entonces cuando se comenzó a hablar del cuerpo femenino, la sexualidad femenina y cuando llegó la píldora anticonceptiva como una revolución total para las mujeres. A su llegada en 1967, ella experimentó un choque porque acababa de asistir a toda una revolución y solo encontró un país de madres, no de mujeres (5). Ese era el único destino de una mujer, ser callada y sumisa. Entonces se dio cuenta de que no se podía seguir así, hablando de "vanguardias revolucionarias" en un ambiente tan patriarcal. En 1986 con las olas del feminismo norteamericano y europeo, y con su equipo académico crearon el grupo Mujer y Sociedad de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, semillero de grandes iniciativas y logros para el país (6). Ella ha liderado grandes cambios con su valentía, la fuerza de sus argumentos, y un discurso apasionado y agradable a la vez. Dentro de sus múltiples libros resalto Conversaciones con Violeta (7), motivado por el desdén hacia el feminismo de algunas mujeres jóvenes. Lo escribe a manera de diálogo con una hija imaginaria en el que, de una manera íntima, reconstruye la historia de las mujeres a través de los siglos y da nuevas luces sobre el papel fundamental del feminismo en la vida de la mujer moderna. Otro libro muestra de su valentía es Había que decirlo (8), en el que narra la experiencia de su propio aborto a sus 22 años en la Francia de los años sesenta. Mi experiencia de trabajo en la IPPF-RHO me ha permitido conocer líderes y lideresas de todas las edades en diversos países de la región, quienes con gran mística y dedicación, de manera voluntaria, trabajan por lograr una sociedad más equitativa y justa. Particularmente me ha impresionado la apropiación del concepto de derechos sexuales y reproductivos por parte de las personas más jóvenes, y esto me ha dado gran esperanza en el futuro del planeta. Seguimos con una agenda incompleta del Plan de acción de la CIPD de El Cairo, pero ver cómo la juventud enfrenta con valentía los retos, me motiva a seguir adelante y aportar mis años de experiencia en un trabajo intergeneracional. La IPPF-RHO evidencia un gran compromiso por los derechos y la SSR de adolescentes en sus políticas y programas, que son consistentes con lo que la Organización promueve; por ejemplo, el 20% de los puestos de toma de decisión están en manos de jóvenes. Las organizaciones miembros, que basan su labor en el voluntariado, son verdaderas incubadoras de jóvenes que harán ese recambio generacional inexpugnable y necesario. A diferencia de lo que nos tocó a muchos de nosotros, trabajar en esta complicada agenda de salud sexual y reproductiva sin bases teóricas, hoy vemos personas comprometidas y con una sólida formación para reemplazarnos. En la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia y en la Facultad de Enfermería de la Universidad El Bosque, las nuevas generaciones están más motivadas y empoderadas, con grandes deseos de cambiar las rígidas estructuras subyacentes. Nuestra gran preocupación son los embates de ultraderecha que soportan grupos antiderechos, muchas veces mejor organizados que nosotros, que sí apoyamos los derechos y somos verdaderos provida (9). Ante este escenario, debemos organizarnos mejor y seguir dando batallas para garantizar los derechos de las mujeres en el ámbito local, regional y global, aunando esfuerzos de todas las organizaciones proderechos. Estamos ahora comprometidos con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (10), entendidos como aquellos que satisfacen las necesidades de la generación presente sin comprometer la capacidad de las generaciones futuras para satisfacer sus propias necesidades. Esta nueva agenda se basa en: - El trabajo no finalizado de los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio - Los compromisos pendientes (convenciones ambientales internacionales) - Los temas emergentes en las tres dimensiones del desarrollo sostenible: social, económica y ambiental. Tenemos ahora 17 Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible y 169 metas (11). Entre estos objetivos se menciona en varias ocasiones el "acceso universal a la salud reproductiva". En el Objetivo 3 de esa lista se incluye garantizar, de aquí al año 2030, "el acceso universal a los servicios de salud sexual y reproductiva, incluidos los de planificación familiar, información y educación". De igual manera, el Objetivo 5, "Lograr la igualdad de género y empoderar a todas las mujeres y las niñas", establece que se deberá "asegurar el acceso universal a la salud sexual y reproductiva y los derechos reproductivos según lo acordado de conformidad con el Programa de Acción de la Conferencia Internacional sobre la Población y el Desarrollo, la Plataforma de Acción de Beijing". No se puede olvidar que el término acceso universal a la salud sexual y reproductiva incluye el acceso universal al aborto y la anticoncepción. Actualmente 830 mujeres mueren cada día por causas maternas prevenibles; de estos decesos, el 99% ocurre en países en desarrollo, más de la mitad en entornos frágiles y en contextos humanitarios (12). 216 millones de mujeres no pueden acceder a métodos de anticoncepción moderna y la mayoría vive en los nueve países más pobres del mundo y en un ambiente cultural propio de la década de los sesenta (13). Este número solo incluye las mujeres de 15 a 49 años en cualquier tipo de unión, es decir el número total es mucho mayor. Cumplir con los objetivos marcados supondría prevenir 67 millones de embarazos no deseados y reducir a un tercio las muertes maternas. Actualmente tenemos una alta demanda insatisfecha de anticoncepción moderna, con un bajísimo uso de los métodos de larga duración reversible (dispositivos intrauterinos e implantes subdérmicos) que son los más efectivos y de mayor adherencia (14). No hay uno solo de los 17 Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible donde la anticoncepción no tenga un papel preponderante: desde el primero que se refiere al fin de la pobreza, pasando por el quinto de igualdad de género, el décimo de reducción de la desigualdad, entre los países y en el mismo país, hasta el decimosexto relacionado con paz y justicia. Si queremos cambiar el mundo, debemos procurar acceso universal a la anticoncepción sin mitos ni barreras. Tenemos la obligación moral de lograr la erradicación de la pobreza extrema y avanzar en la construcción de sociedades más igualitarias, justas y felices. En anticoncepción de urgencia (AU), estamos muy lejos de alcanzar lo que esperamos. Si en métodos de larga duración reversible tenemos una baja prevalencia, en la AU la situación empeora. No en todas las facultades de medicina de la región se aborda este tema, y donde sí se hace, no hay homogeneidad de contenidos, ni siquiera dentro del mismo país. Hay aún mitos sobre su verdadero mecanismo de acción. Hay países como Honduras donde está prohibida y no hay un medicamento dedicado, como tampoco lo hay en Haití. Donde está disponible el acceso es ínfimo, particularmente entre las niñas, adolescentes, jóvenes, migrantes, afrodescendientes e indígenas. Hay que derrumbar las múltiples barreras para el uso eficaz de la anticoncepción de emergencia, y para eso necesitamos trabajar en romper mitos y percepciones erróneas, tabúes y normas culturales; lograr cambios en las leyes y normas restrictivas de los países; lograr acceso sin barreras a la AU; trabajar intersectorialmente; capacitar al personal de salud y la comunidad. Es necesario transformar la actitud del personal de salud en una de servicio por encima de sus propias opiniones. Reflexionando acerca de lo que ha pasado después de la CIPD realizada en El Cairo, su Programa de Acción cambió cómo miramos las dinámicas de población de un énfasis en la demografía a un enfoque en los derechos humanos y las personas. Los gobiernos acordaron que, en este nuevo enfoque, el éxito era el empoderamiento de las mujeres y la posibilidad de elegir a través de expandir el acceso a la educación, la salud, los servicios y el empleo, entre otros. Sin embargo, ha habido avances desiguales y persiste la inequidad en nuestra región, no se cumplieron todas las metas, los derechos sexuales y reproductivos continúan fuera del alcance de muchas mujeres (15). Aún queda un largo camino para recorrer, hasta que mujeres y niñas del mundo puedan reclamar sus derechos y la libertad de decidir. Globalmente la mortalidad materna se ha reducido, hay mayor asistencia calificada del parto, mayor prevalencia anticonceptiva, la educación integral en sexualidad y el acceso a servicios de SSR para adolescentes ya son derechos reconocidos y con grandes avances, además ha habido ganancias concretas en materia de marcos legales más favorables en particular en nuestra región; sin embargo, si bien las condiciones de acceso han mejorado, las legislaciones restrictivas de la región exponen a las mujeres más vulnerables a abortos inseguros. Hay aún grandes desafíos para que los gobiernos reconozcan la SSR y los DSR como parte integral de los sistemas de salud, existe una amplia agenda contra las mujeres. En ese sentido, el acceso a SSR está bajo amenaza y opresión, se requiere movilización intersectorial y litigios estratégicos, investigación y apoyo a los derechos de las mujeres como agenda intersectorial. Hacia adelante hay que esforzarnos más en el trabajo con jóvenes, para avanzar no solo en el Programa de Acción de la CIPD, sino en todos los movimientos sociales. Son uno de los grupos más vulnerables, y de los mayores catalizadores para el cambio. La población joven aún enfrentan muchos desafíos, especialmente las mujeres y niñas; las jóvenes están especialmente en alto riesgo debido a la falta de servicios y salud sexual y reproductiva amigables y confidenciales, la presencia de violencia basada en género y la falta de acceso a los servicios. Además hay que mejorar el acceso al aborto; es responsabilidad de los estados garantizar la calidad y seguridad en el acceso. Aún en nuestra región existen países con marcos totalmente restrictivos. Las nuevas tecnologías facilitan el autocuidado (16), lo que permitirá ampliar el acceso universal, pero los gobiernos no pueden desvincularse de su responsabilidad. El autocuidado se está expandiendo en el mundo y puede ser estratégico para llegar a las poblaciones más vulnerables. Hay nuevos desafíos para los mismos problemas, que requieren una reinterpretación de las medidas necesarias para garantizar los DSR de todas las personas, en particular mujeres, niñas y en general las poblaciones marginadas y vulnerables. Es necesario tener en cuenta aspectos como las migraciones, el cambio climático, el impacto de medios digitales, el resurgimiento de discursos de odio, la opresión, la violencia, la xenofobia, la homo/transfobia y otros problemas emergentes, pues la SSR debe verse en un marco de justicia, y no aislado. Debemos exigir rendición de cuentas a los 179 gobiernos que participaron en la CIPD hace 25 años y a los 193 países que firmaron los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible. Deben reafirmarse en sus compromisos y expandir la agenda a los temas no considerados en ese momento. Nuestra región ha dado ejemplo al mundo con el Consenso de Montevideo, que se convierte en una hoja de ruta para el cumplimiento del plan de acción de la CIPD y no debe permitirnos retroceder. Este Consenso pone en el centro a las personas, en especial a las mujeres, e incluye el tema de aborto invitando a los estados a que consideren la posibilidad de legalizarlo, lo que abre la puerta para que los gobiernos de todo el mundo reconozcan que las mujeres tienen el derecho a decidir sobre la maternidad. Este Consenso es mucho más inclusivo: Considerando que las brechas en salud continúan sobresalientes en la región y las estadísticas promedio suelen ocultar los altos niveles de mortalidad materna, de infecciones de transmisión sexual, de infección por VIH/SIDA y de demanda insatisfecha de anticoncepción entre la población que vive en la pobreza y en áreas rurales, entre los pueblos indígenas y las personas afrodescendientes y grupos en condición de vulnerabilidad como mujeres, adolescentes y jóvenes y personas con discapacidad, acuerdan: 33-Promover, proteger y garantizar la salud y los derechos sexuales y los derechos reproductivos para contribuir a la plena realización de las personas y a la justicia social en una sociedad libre de toda forma de discriminación y violencia. 37-Garantizar el acceso universal a servicios de salud sexual y salud reproductiva de calidad, tomando en consideración las necesidades específicas de hombres y mujeres, adolescentes y jóvenes, personas LGBT, personas mayores y personas con discapacidad, prestando particular atención a personas en condición de vulnerabilidad y personas que viven en zonas rurales y remotas y promoviendo la participación ciudadana en el seguimiento de los compromisos. 42-Asegurar, en los casos en que el aborto es legal o está despenalizado en la legislación nacional, la existencia de servicios de aborto seguros y de calidad para las mujeres que cursan embarazos no deseados y no aceptados e instar a los demás Estados a considerar la posibilidad de modificar las leyes, normativas, estrategias y políticas públicas sobre la interrupción voluntaria del embarazo para salvaguardar la vida y la salud de mujeres adolescentes, mejorando su calidad de vida y disminuyendo el número de abortos (17). ; In my postgraduate formation during the last years of the 80's, we had close to thirty hospital beds in a pavilion called "sépticas" (1). In Colombia, where abortion was completely penalized, the pavilion was mostly filled with women with insecure, complicated abortions. The focus we received was technical: management of intensive care; performance of hysterectomies, colostomies, bowel resection, etc. In those times, some nurses were nuns and limited themselves to interrogating the patients to get them to "confess" what they had done to themselves in order to abort. It always disturbed me that the women who left alive, left without any advice or contraceptive method. Having asked a professor of mine, he responded with disdain: "This is a third level hospital, those things are done by nurses of the first level". Seeing so much pain and death, I decided to talk to patients, and I began to understand their decision. I still remember so many deaths with sadness, but one case in particular pains me: it was a woman close to being fifty who arrived with a uterine perforation in a state of advanced sepsis. Despite the surgery and the intensive care, she passed away. I had talked to her, and she told me she was a widow, had two adult kids and had aborted because of "embarrassment towards them" because they were going to find out that she had an active sexual life. A few days after her passing, the pathology professor called me, surprised, to tell me that the uterus we had sent for pathological examination showed no pregnancy. She was a woman in a perimenopausal state with a pregnancy exam that gave a false positive due to the high levels of FSH/LH typical of her age. SHE WAS NOT PREGNANT!!! She didn't have menstruation because she was premenopausal and a false positive led her to an unsafe abortion. Of course, the injuries caused in the attempted abortion caused the fatal conclusion, but the real underlying cause was the social taboo in respect to sexuality. I had to watch many adolescents and young women leave the hospital alive, but without a uterus, sometime without ovaries and with colostomies, to be looked down on by a society that blamed them for deciding to not be mothers. I had to see situation of women that arrived with their intestines protruding from their vaginas because of unsafe abortions. I saw women, who in their despair, self-inflicted injuries attempting to abort with elements such as stick, branches, onion wedges, alum bars and clothing hooks among others. Among so many deaths, it was hard not having at least one woman per day in the morgue due to an unsafe abortion. During those time, healthcare was not handled from the biopsychosocial, but only from the technical (2); nonetheless, in the academic evaluations that were performed, when asked about the definition of health, we had to recite the text from the International Organization of Health that included these three aspects. How contradictory! To give response to the health need of women and guarantee their right when I was already a professor, I began an obstetric contraceptive service in that third level hospital. There was resistance from the directors, but fortunately I was able to acquire international donations for the institution, which facilitated its acceptance. I decided to undertake a teaching career with the hope of being able to sensitize health professionals towards an integral focus of health and illness. When the International Conference of Population and Development (ICPD) was held in Cairo in 1994, I had already spent various years in teaching, and when I read their Action Program, I found a name for what I was working on: Sexual and Reproductive Rights. I began to incorporate the tools given by this document into my professional and teaching life. I was able to sensitize people at my countries Health Ministry, and we worked together moving it to an approach of human rights in areas of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This new viewpoint, in addition to being integral, sought to give answers to old problems like maternal mortality, adolescent pregnancy, low contraceptive prevalence, unplanned or unwanted pregnancy or violence against women. With other sensitized people, we began with these SRH issues to permeate the Colombian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, some universities, and university hospitals. We are still fighting in a country that despite many difficulties has improved its indicators of SRH. With the experience of having labored in all sphere of these topics, we manage to create, with a handful of colleagues and friend at the Universidad El Bosque, a Master's Program in Sexual and Reproductive Health, open to all professions, in which we broke several paradigms. A program was initiated in which the qualitative and quantitative investigation had the same weight, and some alumni of the program are now in positions of leadership in governmental and international institutions, replicating integral models. In the Latin American Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FLASOG, English acronym) and in the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO), I was able to apply my experience for many years in the SRH committees of these association to benefit women and girls in the regional and global environments. When I think of who has inspired me in these fights, I should highlight the great feminist who have taught me and been with me in so many fights. I cannot mention them all, but I have admired the story of the life of Margaret Sanger with her persistence and visionary outlook. She fought throughout her whole life to help the women of the 20th century to be able to obtain the right to decide when and whether or not they wanted to have children (3). Of current feminist, I have had the privilege of sharing experiences with Carmen Barroso, Giselle Carino, Debora Diniz and Alejandra Meglioli, leaders of the International Planned Parenthood Federation – Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF-RHO). From my country, I want to mention my countrywoman Florence Thomas, psychologist, columnist, writer and Colombo-French feminist. She is one of the most influential and important voices in the movement for women rights in Colombia and the region. She arrived from France in the 1960's, in the years of counterculture, the Beatles, hippies, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre, a time in which capitalism and consumer culture began to be criticized (4). It was then when they began to talk about the female body, female sexuality and when the contraceptive pill arrived like a total revolution for women. Upon its arrival in 1967, she experimented a shock because she had just assisted in a revolution and only found a country of mothers, not women (5). That was the only destiny for a woman, to be quiet and submissive. Then she realized that this could not continue, speaking of "revolutionary vanguards" in such a patriarchal environment. In 1986 with the North American and European feminism waves and with her academic team, they created the group "Mujer y Sociedad de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia", incubator of great initiatives and achievements for the country (6). She has led great changes with her courage, the strength of her arguments, and a simultaneously passionate and agreeable discourse. Among her multiple books, I highlight "Conversaciones con Violeta" (7), motivated by the disdain towards feminism of some young women. She writes it as a dialogue with an imaginary daughter in which, in an intimate manner, she reconstructs the history of women throughout the centuries and gives new light of the fundamental role of feminism in the life of modern women. Another book that shows her bravery is "Había que decirlo" (8), in which she narrates the experience of her own abortion at age twenty-two in sixty's France. My work experience in the IPPF-RHO has allowed me to meet leaders of all ages in diverse countries of the region, who with great mysticism and dedication, voluntarily, work to achieve a more equal and just society. I have been particularly impressed by the appropriation of the concept of sexual and reproductive rights by young people, and this has given me great hope for the future of the planet. We continue to have an incomplete agenda of the action plan of the ICPD of Cairo but seeing how the youth bravely confront the challenges motivates me to continue ahead and give my years of experience in an intergenerational work. In their policies and programs, the IPPF-RHO evidences great commitment for the rights and the SRH of adolescent, that are consistent with what the organization promotes, for example, 20% of the places for decision making are in hands of the young. Member organizations, that base their labor on volunteers, are true incubators of youth that will make that unassailable and necessary change of generations. In contrast to what many of us experienced, working in this complicated agenda of sexual and reproductive health without theoretical bases, today we see committed people with a solid formation to replace us. In the college of medicine at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the College of Nursing at the Universidad El Bosque, the new generations are more motivated and empowered, with great desire to change the strict underlying structures. Our great worry is the onslaught of the ultra-right, a lot of times better organized than us who do support rights, that supports anti-rights group and are truly pro-life (9). Faced with this scenario, we should organize ourselves better, giving battle to guarantee the rights of women in the local, regional, and global level, aggregating the efforts of all pro-right organizations. We are now committed to the Objectives of Sustainable Development (10), understood as those that satisfy the necessities of the current generation without jeopardizing the capacity of future generations to satisfy their own necessities. This new agenda is based on: - The unfinished work of the Millennium Development Goals - Pending commitments (international environmental conventions) - The emergent topics of the three dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic, and environmental. We now have 17 objectives of sustainable development and 169 goals (11). These goals mention "universal access to reproductive health" many times. In objective 3 of this list is included guaranteeing, before the year 2030, "universal access to sexual and reproductive health services, including those of family planning, information, and education." Likewise, objective 5, "obtain gender equality and empower all women and girls", establishes the goal of "assuring the universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in conformity with the action program of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Action Platform of Beijing". It cannot be forgotten that the term universal access to sexual and reproductive health includes universal access to abortion and contraception. Currently, 830 women die every day through preventable maternal causes; of these deaths, 99% occur in developing countries, more than half in fragile environments and in humanitarian contexts (12). 216 million women cannot access modern contraception methods and the majority live in the nine poorest countries in the world and in a cultural environment proper to the decades of the seventies (13). This number only includes women from 15 to 49 years in any marital state, that is to say, the number that takes all women into account is much greater. Achieving the proposed objectives would entail preventing 67 million unwanted pregnancies and reducing maternal deaths by two thirds. We currently have a high, unsatisfied demand for modern contraceptives, with extremely low use of reversible, long term methods (intrauterine devices and subdermal implants) which are the most effect ones with best adherence (14). There is not a single objective among the 17 Objectives of Sustainable Development where contraception does not have a prominent role: from the first one that refers to ending poverty, going through the fifth one about gender equality, the tenth of inequality reduction among countries and within the same country, until the sixteenth related with peace and justice. If we want to change the world, we should procure universal access to contraception without myths or barriers. We have the moral obligation of achieving the irradiation of extreme poverty and advancing the construction of more equal, just, and happy societies. In emergency contraception (EC), we are very far from reaching expectations. If in reversible, long-term methods we have low prevalence, in EC the situation gets worse. Not all faculties in the region look at this topic, and where it is looked at, there is no homogeneity in content, not even within the same country. There are still myths about their real action mechanisms. There are countries, like Honduras, where it is prohibited and there is no specific medicine, the same case as in Haiti. Where it is available, access is dismal, particularly among girls, adolescents, youth, migrants, afro-descendent, and indigenous. The multiple barriers for the effective use of emergency contraceptives must be knocked down, and to work toward that we have to destroy myths and erroneous perceptions, taboos and cultural norms; achieve changes in laws and restrictive rules within countries, achieve access without barriers to the EC; work in union with other sectors; train health personnel and the community. It is necessary to transform the attitude of health personal to a service above personal opinion. Reflecting on what has occurred after the ICPD in Cairo, their Action Program changed how we look at the dynamics of population from an emphasis on demographics to a focus on the people and human rights. The governments agreed that, in this new focus, success was the empowerment of women and the possibility of choice through expanded access to education, health, services, and employment among others. Nonetheless, there have been unequal advances and inequality persists in our region, all the goals were not met, the sexual and reproductive goals continue beyond the reach of many women (15). There is a long road ahead until women and girls of the world can claim their rights and liberty of deciding. Globally, maternal deaths have been reduced, there is more qualified assistance of births, more contraception prevalence, integral sexuality education, and access to SRH services for adolescents are now recognized rights with great advances, and additionally there have been concrete gains in terms of more favorable legal frameworks, particularly in our region; nonetheless, although it's true that the access condition have improved, the restrictive laws of the region expose the most vulnerable women to insecure abortions. There are great challenges for governments to recognize SRH and the DSR as integral parts of health systems, there is an ample agenda against women. In that sense, access to SRH is threatened and oppressed, it requires multi-sector mobilization and litigation strategies, investigation and support for the support of women's rights as a multi-sector agenda. Looking forward, we must make an effort to work more with youth to advance not only the Action Program of the ICPD, but also all social movements. They are one of the most vulnerable groups, and the biggest catalyzers for change. The young population still faces many challenges, especially women and girls; young girls are in particularly high risk due to lack of friendly and confidential services related with sexual and reproductive health, gender violence, and lack of access to services. In addition, access to abortion must be improved; it is the responsibility of states to guarantee the quality and security of this access. In our region there still exist countries with completely restrictive frameworks. New technologies facilitate self-care (16), which will allow expansion of universal access, but governments cannot detach themselves from their responsibility. Self-care is expanding in the world and can be strategic for reaching the most vulnerable populations. There are new challenges for the same problems, that require a re-interpretation of the measures necessary to guaranty the DSR of all people, in particular women, girls, and in general, marginalized and vulnerable populations. It is necessary to take into account migrations, climate change, the impact of digital media, the resurgence of hate discourse, oppression, violence, xenophobia, homo/transphobia, and other emergent problems, as SRH should be seen within a framework of justice, not isolated. We should demand accountability of the 179 governments that participate in the ICPD 25 years ago and the 193 countries that signed the Sustainable Development Objectives. They should reaffirm their commitments and expand their agenda to topics not considered at that time. Our region has given the world an example with the Agreement of Montevideo, that becomes a blueprint for achieving the action plan of the CIPD and we should not allow retreat. This agreement puts people at the center, especially women, and includes the topic of abortion, inviting the state to consider the possibility of legalizing it, which opens the doors for all governments of the world to recognize that women have the right to choose on maternity. This agreement is much more inclusive: Considering that the gaps in health continue to abound in the region and the average statistics hide the high levels of maternal mortality, of sexually transmitted diseases, of infection by HIV/AIDS, and the unsatisfied demand for contraception in the population that lives in poverty and rural areas, among indigenous communities, and afro-descendants and groups in conditions of vulnerability like women, adolescents and incapacitated people, it is agreed: 33- To promote, protect, and guarantee the health and the sexual and reproductive rights that contribute to the complete fulfillment of people and social justice in a society free of any form of discrimination and violence. 37- Guarantee universal access to quality sexual and reproductive health services, taking into consideration the specific needs of men and women, adolescents and young, LGBT people, older people and people with incapacity, paying particular attention to people in a condition of vulnerability and people who live in rural and remote zone, promoting citizen participation in the completing of these commitments. 42- To guarantee, in cases in which abortion is legal or decriminalized in the national legislation, the existence of safe and quality abortion for non-desired or non-accepted pregnancies and instigate the other States to consider the possibility of modifying public laws, norms, strategies, and public policy on the voluntary interruption of pregnancy to save the life and health of pregnant adolescent women, improving their quality of life and decreasing the number of abortions (17).