There must be another way to exist, to be a human being, to be a woman.” (Inspired by a text of the poet Rosario Castellanos)

They thought of calling her Lourdes, but they named her Lucía. Marta Lucía: “Malú.” She could have been an opera singer, but she became a politician. Decisions, denials, experiences have made the girl that studied piano and song into a defender of women's rights. A defender of herself.

In Guanajuato (state of Mexico; known for its cultural, political and religious conservatism), a young person can still be sent to jail for drawing graffiti. “Malú” began her struggle with the fight for laic education and for the defense of human rights for women. The fight for sexual rights was the most confrontational. “I studied music in an official school. My family was in the well-off middle class. But I had classmates who lacked everything, even the instruments to practice on. At home, we had two pianos and my classmates had none. Many of them were virtuous, yet they had to rent their instruments. When I was 17 years old, I did an entrance exam for La Scala in Milan. I went to Italy and during one of the examinations I lost my voice. I thought, ‘Well, this is not for me.’ I stayed. I studied art history and got to know the student strikes. I went back in 1973, questioning my view of reality. I began to study at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.” She joined a reflection group coordinated by Jesuits. Life turned upside down. She chose to identify herself with the poor and, from that moment on, she lived as one of them. She also chose the countryside instead of the city and started projects in support of nursery school education, women's rights and human rights. She has worked for feminism, for 20 years. She taught the current president of Mexico, Vicente Fox, to speak in a non-sexist language. Today, Marta Lucía Micher Camarena is a federal member of Parliament for the Democratic Revolution Party.

The Mirabal Sisters Human Rights Center Feminist Millennium and Democratic Revolution Party