Valentina Rosendo Cantú
Victim of rape and torture by Mexican Army soldiers | Ayutla de los Libres, Guerrero My name is Valentina Rosendo Cantú. I am 26 years old and I am an indigenous Me’phaa woman from the state of Guerrero. I began to think of myself as a human rights defender as a result of my case... my fight is not just for me, it also helps other women who have also been raped by soldiers. That is very important for me because through my struggle, together with Inés Fernández, our cases have helped many women see things in a different way. My life has not been all beautiful. No. There have been times when I wanted to abandon this struggle, I say that clearly. When they tried to take my daughter when she was leaving school, that is when I did not want to keep going. For what? But in that moment I also reacted. I knew I should keep going and I decided to continue. There is a part of me that does not want to continue, I think that I cannot live this way, with fear, but I have to keep fighting. I see my daughter, I see my family, I see my sisters, I see the reaction of many
«I will not go back as a woman that was humiliated [...]. I will go back as someone that can do something for my community.» women in the community who have suffered from this situation and who have lived through the same thing. That is when I decide to continue, I have to keep going even though it is difficult, right? The sentence from the Inter-American Court was a very important moment for me because it was a very clear step forward. It was a step towards hope, a step forward to show that indigenous women like me can do whatever is necessary. This gives us the strength to continue to fight 26
Dignas | PBI México
and also the hope that this will not stop here. The struggle began and we have to finish it—for me, for that reason, the sentence from the Court is very important. However the greatest accomplishment has not taken place yet. This will take place when the Mexican government makes a public recognition [of responsibility for their actions. This ceremony took place on December 15, 2011. The Mexican state publicly recognized its responsibility for the human rights violations committed against Valentina Rosendo Cantú in 2002 when she was assaulted by members of the Mexican Army]. I imagine that many things will change once the Mexican government makes a public recognition. That is when it will be known, where so many people who did not dare to file a complaint and who never spoke out will think... this part is going to change. I have something prepared [that I want to say that day] so that these women can see things differently. Today I am at a point in which I cannot say [where I am living] because in this never-ending struggle, I fear for my safety and for the safety of my daughter and my family. I would like to return to my community someday, to see my family, to see my parents, my brothers and sisters; to go to the place where I was born, where I grew up. I will go back, but not like the woman that left nine years ago, a women who was humiliated, beaten, mistreated, and discriminated. I will go back as someone who can do something for my community. I am now finishing high school. I would like to continue studying to be a nurse so that I can go back and help other women in my community. There are women who have also been mistreated by their husbands, and that makes me sad, too. Many women in the community do not have information, they do not have a clear education so that they can also speak out, [because] women are equal to men, and women can do the same things as men. That is what I would like to do when I go back to my community. Dignas | PBI México
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