Yesterday morning’s news that twice former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had been assassinated shook me. Not because it was unexpected, sadly. But rather because even as a young girl I remember looking up to her with a certain amount of awe. I didn’t know that she was the first female head of state in a Muslim nation, I just knew she was a female head of state when there weren’t many others, especially in the country where I was living.

Criticisms of her politics have come from both the liberal side and the ultra orthodox extremists who have taken credit for killing her in a suicide bombing yesterday at a rally but female leaders in Latin America have spoken publicly about a woman, who for them, was also a role model.

President Michelle Bachelet of Chile and President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina spoke out in memory of Bhutto and against her murder.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet paid “sincere tribute to a woman … who fought her entire life for a better Pakistan.” President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina called the assassination “an abominable act”

Via / The International Herald Tribune, 24 Horas Chile TV

Image Via / The Harry Walker Agency