Isabel Anangonó

At 64 years of age, Isabel is an accomplished writer, proud lifelong farmer, and social justice activist. She was born in the Intag valley, where her ancestors have lived for generations, and where she continues to sow her crops. Over the years, Isabel and her husband have watched the rainy season become dry, and the Intag river become polluted. She has worked for over a decade as a community leader, advocating for the rights of rural women against a neoliberal government that seeks to disempower them. 

She has witnessed 26 years of sometimes violent resistance to mining in the Intag Valley, and the continual destruction caused by such exploitation. Now, international mining companies threaten to destroy the forests that remain, buying the mineral rights from beneath the lands of her home and her community.

The hope I have is… if I fight from today I leave a legacy, which is care of the environment, water and land. What little we have, we have to take care [of it], and deliver it to other hands.