Ana Silvia Villa Cartagena

All over the world, ordinary women, men, and children are fighting for the rights of their communities to be recognized. Ana Silvia Villa Cartagena, President of the Asociación Negra Margarita, spoke to MRG's Cecile Clerc during her trip to El Carmen, Peru. 

The first time you meet Silvia, she comes across as quiet and a little shy. That is until she starts talking - about her community, her village, her work. Silvia has so much passion in her voice when talks about the issues close to her heart that you immediately forget your initial impressions. Silvia is full of energy, motivation and enthusiasm.

Being Afro-Peruvian

Silvia is incredibly proud to define herself as a descendant of the African slaves who where brought to Peru in the 16th and 17th Centuries to work in the sugar plantations and cotton fields. She comes from the village of El Carmen, in the Province of Chincha, some 250 kms from Lima; an area known as the cradle of Afro-descendant groups in Peru.

Silvia divides her time between Lima and El Carmen, spending on average at least two or three days per week in the capital and the rest of her time with her community. She is the President of the Asociación Negra Margarita, an organization set up in 1998 to protect and promote the rights of women and young people of Afro-descendant origin in the Province of Chincha. The organization is currently expanding outside its original geographical remit to become a national network of similar local organizations.

Protecting and promoting women’s rights

Silvia is a lawyer; she has worked in prisons and has also been a judge. She has a long history of being involved in social justice work and is a founder member of her organization. While preparing for her law degree, Silvia became impassioned about women’s rights and the importance of ensuring that women were aware of their rights and empowered to advocate for them.

After finishing her studies, she began collaborating with a number of organizations from Lima who ran projects and workshops in El Carmen. She quickly realized that although the work of these organizations was highly necessary they would often leave the area having achieved only half of what should be done due to lack of time. She therefore decided to set up a local organization dedicated to an issue of importance to her: women’s rights and specifically the rights of Afro-descendant women. She didn’t have to wait long before seeing some results.

"The first workshop we organized was about informing local women of their rights as women, wives and mothers. 10 women came along. One told us, ‘I don’t know if I will be able to come back to the second meeting, my husband doesn’t want me to. He says these things are not for me.'"

When we ran the second workshop three months later, all the women were there. I asked the woman who’d said she might not come back about her husband’s opinion on her attending the workshop. She replied, ‘He was not pleased when I said I would go back. But after that first time, I knew I had to come back. I felt so confident after that first meeting that I was able to challenge him’.”

But everything is not always so easy. Silvia mentions the struggle for funding as a constant problem for her organization. On a personal note, it’s sometimes difficult for her to be both a mother and a leading human rights activist, but luckily her family looks after her children when she has to spend time outside the family home. Silvia also takes her daughters with her to meetings and workshops – they appear to enjoy themselves and it would no surprise if in 20 years time they follow in their mother’s footsteps.

Looking beyond skin colour

'It’s not about skin colour, it’s about common identity and shared experiences'

For many Peruvians, the fact that Silvia’s skin colour is not ‘dark enough’ leads them to question why she fights for the rights of Afro-Peruvians.

“It’s not about skin colour”, says Silvia, “it’s about common identity and shared experiences.”

Working on establishing the first Afro-descendant museum in Peru has just reinforced Silvia’s link to her community. The museum will open shortly in El Carmen and will be a unique place dedicated to Afro-Peruvian history, culture and traditions.

“It’s important for our community to be aware and proud of what constitutes our identity”, explains Silvia. “This is something I really hope for in the future - that Afro-descendants, including women and young people, will feel confident about their identity and able to get involved in the decision-making processes affecting their lives.”

With people like Silvia fighting for change, there’s a great chance that these dreams will one day come true.