A few days ago I met with Martha Miravete Cicero, the director of the NGO "Women's Group Argentina", who was kind enough to welcome us into her home and immediately made us feel like we were part of her family.
Martha told us that GMA sprouted in 1998 from already existing group the CHA (Homosexual Commission of Argentina) which was inspired from her first hand experience of situations that she could never have imagined in what she now prefers to call "Countries of the State" but which we know more commonly as prison. It was here that Martha witnessed the conditions of Argentinian detention centers and realised that they are far from only being a place where individuals are serving time for committed crimes but also are centers of punishment, far exceeding the penalty levels that any detainee should have to endure.
On leaving prison, she made the firm decision to do something about it and not to run away from the problem. As Martha stated: "I was always a rebellious person through and through and never remained silent". It was this rebellious spirit which led her to spearhead a project that has made her the voice of many who have experienced similar situations in and out of jail.
The space given to the GMA community within the CHA lasted for a period of 2 years after which time Martha decided to start a seperate organisation under a different name partly also because several of the girls had issues at home announcing that they belonged to the community ... I thought this was amazing. We aren´t even been talking about a long time ago... The struggle to gain recognition for the community has been truly amazing.
In addition to the breakoff from the CHA and to have had her jail experience as a major motivation for the group, Martha saw another big problem. Many of her friends endured great discrimination for being carrieres of human inmmune deficiency virus (HIV), and Martha explained to us how these individuals were relegated and mistreated by their peers who did not posess the virus.
Now, as she explained, she had 3 big situations she knew she wanted to change. She states she was not sure how or when this change was going to occur, but as the former president of my university Mr. Rafael Rangel Sostman once said , "Blessed be ignorance that leads us to embark on roads we know we want to address, but ignore the fact that our actions will bring or how hard it will be to achieve, continue in them, though sometimes we think we want to leave". In such Martha explained how difficult the path has been she has taken embodied in GMA and other partners with it in the cause.
Her story continues as she tells us that one of the first actions undertaken by the organisation was to advocate for the right to health, and after to juvenile hall to fight for more education on HIV prevention and improvements in nutritional conditions. It is from this plight that came the reason why she calls prisons as "Countries of the State" due to the amount of revenue that these centers receive from the State, and according to Ms. Miravete should have resulted in much better conditions, However, the reality is very different.
Even though the journey from the birth of the GMA organisation to its first beginnings has been long, by Martha's hand the organization has become a consulting informant of the Organization of American States (OAS), and has realised other achievements such as being part of the Inter-American Comssion, an audience to whom Martha advocated for the rights prisoners within the country.
Today Martha and the other partners of GMA are about to inaugurate a new working space, a small office located in the center of the Federal Capital of Argentina. GMA has expanded its horizons through its contact with prisoners, whose families know the importance of a much sought after social integration process for those leaving prison. As such the group is also working with programs that help the integration process for ex-prisoners so they can regain their dignity in society.
If you want to know more about the projects, history and partners of the GMA you can visit the organisations link: http://www.grupodemujeres.org.ar/
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