Ibarra de Piedra, Rosario (1927–)

Rosario Ibarra de Piedra, born in Saltillo, Coahuila, is a Mexican social activist famous for her slogan, "They were taken alive—we want them alive." She began her activism in 1975, during the Luis Echeverría administration, when federal police arrested and disappeared her son, Jesús Ibarra. (In Latin America the term "disappeared" describes a situation in which a member of the political opposition is kidnapped by security forces or death squads and never seen again.) In 1979, together with the family members of other people who were disappeared for political reasons, she founded the National Front for Struggle against Repression. Known in the twenty-first century as Eureka, the organization continues its efforts for justice and truth. Through protests and hunger strikes, she has been pressuring the federal government to provide information on the whereabouts of the disappeared and to give amnesty to political prisoners and targets of political repression. On the political scene, she has twice been a presidential candidate, in 1982 and 1988, making her the first woman to run for that office. As a member of the PRD political party, she is a "plurinominal" senator—one of the three senators representing the Federal District for the 2006–2012 period.

See alsoEcheverría Álvarez, Luis; Mexico: Since 1910; Mexico, Political Parties: Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD); Truth Commissions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DePalma, Anthony. "Among the Ruins of the Left, a Pillar Stands." New York Times, October 5, 1994, International Section. Profile of Rosario Ibarra de Piedra.

                      Elena Azucena Ceja Camargo