Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 7 November 2019
Colombia court upends old Latin America naming tradition

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO The issue also intersects with
CÉSAR GARCIA LGBT rights, with same-sex
Associated Press couples wanting to enjoy
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) the same privilege to pass
— Tradition has long had down both family names to
it that children born to their children. A summary
families in Latin America re- of the Colombian Constitu-
ceive two last names: That tional Court's decision did
of their father, followed by not specify how it might
that of their mother. apply to those families.
Now that practice is being Lawmakers in other nations
challenged in court. have tried to challenge the
Colombia's Constitutional tradition without success.
Court ruled Tuesday that Lawmaker Marisa Glave in-
the tradition violates princi- troduced legislation in Peru
ples of equality, overturning in 2017 allowing parents the
a law in place since 1989 right to choose the order of
and ordering congress to their child's last names only
draft new legislation that to see it quashed by oppo-
gives parents greater free- sition lawmakers.
dom in deciding the order Colombian lawmakers are
of their child's last names. being given until June 2022
"It's a huge step," said Juan to draft new legislation in
Pablo Pantoja, a commer- Claudia López, candidate for mayor of Bogotá with the Alianza Verde party, celebrates her line with the Constitutional
cial law attorney who filed electoral victory on Sunday, October 27, 2019, in Bogotá, Colombia. Associated Press Court's decision. If they
the court case on his own are unable to pass a new
as a citizen in belief the cur- is "a custom with medieval between men and women. Pantoja said he became law by that time, registrars
rent law was discriminatory. overtones" that violates Civil society groups and aware of the issue while should begin letting parents
Colombia becomes the laws guaranteeing women the Ombudsman's Office working for the Colombian decide the order of their
latest Latin American na- equal rights, among others. of Colombia claimed oth- consulate in Argentina, child's last name. If couples
tion to upend the age-old "The male surname cannot erwise, saying the nam- where he often helped aren't able to agree, a
practice, which has its roots be privileged simply to per- ing tradition contributes to families register their new- "competent authority" will
in 18th century Spain and petuate traditions that run keeping patriarchal ten- borns. Even though the randomly choose which
ensures the transcendence counter to modern values," dencies alive. Pantoja said children were born in Ar- parent surname goes first.
of patrilineal surnames. he wrote. that while seemingly harm- gentina, where families The decision was welcome
In recent years, Argen- Government institutions less, the privileged status could choose the order news for Janeth Santiago,
tina and Uruguay have including the Ministry of given to male last names is of their infant's last names, 52, who followed traditional
changed laws to allow Interior argued in favor of a sort of "micro-chauvinism" they still had to follow Co- requirements in naming her
more flexibility. Spain no upholding the law, con- leading many families to lombian naming traditions child but likes the thought
longer requires that a new- tending that it does not believe they need a son written into law to register of future generations being
born be registered with the privilege one parent over in order to pass down the as Colombian citizens. given more flexibility.
father's last name first. the other, and that chang- family surname. "A name is important be- "There won't be as much
In his complaint, Pantoja ing the norm would not do "It's a chauvinistic attitude cause it becomes part of chauvinism in relationships,"
argued that the tradition anything to ensure equality of legal character," he said. your identity," he said. she said.q

Brazil’s oil tender yields $17 billion, falls short of hopes

By DIANE JEANTET Bento Albuquerque, add- obtained if all four blocks
Associated Press ing that the government had been auctioned.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Bra- will review the auction's Décio Oddone, director
zil awarded two of the four methodology to improve of Brazil's National Agency
blocks on offer in its prici- future tenders. of Petroleum, Natural Gas
est oil auction since 2010 The contract terms stipu- and Biofuels called it a "his-
on Wednesday, securing lated that winning bidders toric day" for the oil sector.
about $17 billion dollars but were to reimburse an undis- The tender is the result of
falling short of government closed amount of money years of difficult negotia-
expectations. to Petrobras to compen- tions between the federal
The highly anticipated sate for exploratory works government, Petrobras,
tender had captured the already carried out by the which had previous rights
attention of some of the company. on the oil fields, and Brazil-
world's biggest oil firms, in- The fact that this sum was ian states that also wanted
cluding the United States' to be negotiated after the a share of the windfall.
ExxonMobil and other com- Bento Albuquerque, minister of mines and energy, speaks during auction represented ad- Brazil's oil sector has been
panies from China, Malay- an oil auction in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019. ditional risk for potential in- recovering from the fall
sia and Norway. Associated Press vestors. in international oil prices
In the end, few participat- trolled Petrobras. The Chi- ner of the second awarded Brazilian energy officials af- since 2014 as well as the
ed. Chinese state-owned nese will have a minority block, Itapu. ter the event maintained sprawling "Car Wash" anti-
oil firms CNOOC and share of 10 percent in the "We have to evaluate why the auction was a success, graft probe that unveiled
CNODC won the largest joint venture. the big (oil firms) didn't par- though the proceeds fell endemic corruption at the
block, Buzios, in a consor- Petrobras was the sole par- ticipate in this auction," short of the $26 billion the top levels of Petrobras and
tium with Brazil's state-con- ticipant and de facto win- said Brazil's energy minister, government could have the government.q