On April 9th passed away, at age 46 Carme Chacón, formerly the - first female-Minister of Defense within the Government of Spain under President Zapatero. Carme was an honest and courageous woman, those who knew her well were lucky enough to see how she worked her fingers to the bone in her tireless struggle for equality, or how with extreme generosity, always knew how to contribute to collective projects above personal egos.
Carme Chacón had a close relationship with the Democratic Party of the United States, and frequently traveled to USA, since she worked as a Professor at Miami's Dade College for the last couple of years of her life. I will always remember her defense of "Obama Care" and her tutoring ability towards the American society; where she always highlighted the importance of Universal Healthcare. Carme knew too well that social justice began by ensuring a Public Health System, a system that works perfectly in Spain. Without it Carme, who suffered from a congenital heart disease, could not have been a mother. Without it, she could not have lived 46 full years before she passed away. She understood quite early in life, that defending a Public Healthcare System is to make a proactive and outspoken defense of Human Rights.
Carme also contributed to the empowerment of women in the broader facets of public and private life; Campaigned for Hillary Clinton, and fought vigorously to stop, eventually without success, the now elected President Donald Trump. Her colleagues from Miami Dade College are well aware of her ability to work, her progressive vision of the world, and her determination to change things; in essence, to transform the reality that surrounds us.
All socially progressives around the world have lost a very capable and valid person, a woman who, in such a short time, did more than most people in politics do in their whole lives. But Carme was above all a good person, a generous woman with a clear and well-defined idea of social justice, the redistribution of wealth and the feminist struggle in the world. When such a lucid mind leaves us, we are left a bit too orphaned and the world is painted a bit grayer.
Carme leaves the Spanish society desolated and her friends and family shattered, but her example must give us the desire and strength to fight against injustice. Today we cry, but it is more important to remember her, and to make of her public life a way to go; making of her private gestures of affection our fortress, in order to advance towards equality. And it's because Carme did her best in equality, that she quickly understood that equality is the opposite of gender supremacy and violence. My heart still weeps without comfort. I remember her in my every glass of wine, in every dance, and in every one of Salinas' verses. Americans should also mourn the absence of this exceptional human being. Because Carme, with her firm voice and smile, made injustice run away, and contributed to make a more decent place of this world.