Last January 25 in Tegucigalpa, as part of the campaign, Defending to Live and Live Well, the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras presented the book Marta, la de la Lopez: The way I learned and unlearned, written by Virginia Marta Velázquez and Melissa Cardoza and published by the National Defenders Network.

As Network Coordinator Yéssica Trinidad stated in the Prologue, the book narrates the history of the struggle of one woman, Marta Velàzquez, a feminist and human rights defender. In Marta’s own words, the aim of the book is to “listen to ourselves, recover our voice, acknowledge ourselves and acknowledge the fantastic power of transforming the world.”

And recovering her voice, Yessica adds that “it’s yet to be told what many women defenders do in their territories, not only in moments of alert and crises, but also in recounting their own history from women’s points of view, naming those who have walked before and beside us and who continue to do so.”

Mexican women rights defender Ana María Hernández, of  Oaxaca Consortium and a member of the Driving Group and Self-Care Commission of IM-Defensoras, was one of the moderators of the event.