Linked with Promoting the Rights, Voices and Visions of Indigenous Peoples, and with Texts about Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights.
She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.
She says: “For us, women, peace is justice. It is respect for our original culture”. She says also: « I feel powerless, because I cannot change this world; I feel pain, because of the injustice in my country. But everything that happened in the past has marked me, has affected me and made me stronger and more able to move forward.” For María Cleofé, “Peace is Justice”.
Read: ‘El país ya tiene nuevos padres de la patria por cinco años‘, 25 de julio , 2006. Also the quechuanetwork, and their Homepage.
María Cleofé Sumire López – Peru
She works for the Andean Women’s Association AMA.
Perú: Lengua quechua: del miedo y desprecio al respeto, Rodrigo Montoya Rojas; ALAI, América Latina en Movimiento, 2006-08-24 – Cuando las señoras Maria Cleofé Sumire de Conde y Hilaria Supa Huamán, juraron sus cargos de congresistas en quechua, lengua de los Incas, la Dra. Martha Hildebrant, una de sus colegas encargadas de tomarles ese juramento no pudo esconder su indignación. Tres semanas después, cuando la señora Supa habló en quechua en una de las Comisiones de trabajo y se negó a hablar en castellano, sus colegas exigieron que hable en castellano. Esta simple historia es un ejemplo de fractura profunda de de la sociedad peruana. (Read all on Coordinadora Andina Organizaciones Indigenas).
María Cleofé Sumire López (54) was born in Cuzco, Peru. She followed the path of her father, who was arrested several times because of his fight for land on behalf of the peasants.
She lived through the aggression of the Sendero Luminoso and the military. She also experienced exile. María Cleofé created the Andean Women’s Association (AMA). She graduated as a lawyer in order to fight more effectively for women’s rights. María Cleofé Sumire López was born in Cuzco, where the Apus hills meet the sky and protect the land’s heart. In those hills, where she nurtures the dreams of many people, she fell in love and had two children. She followed the path of her father, an indigenous leader, who was arrested several times after making land claims for the peasants. She is 54 years old and has experienced very difficult times. She has faced violence, threats and exile. Determined and with a desire to fulfill her aspirations, she entered University and, in 2003, after 20 years, she graduated as a lawyer so she could be better prepared for the fight for women’s rights, for the fight for her people. Long before, in the 60s, when in Cuzco the peasant movement made massive land claims, she had to leave the country because of the aggression of ‘Sendero Luminoso’, she suffered discrimination and racism. María created the Andean Women’s Association (AMA), through a network of committees and mothers clubs. She held training courses for women, encouraging them to feel recognized as citizens in their own right. In Peru, the fight for land has meant death and sacrifice. The country has suffered violence from terrorist groups and the military. Racism and discrimination are endemic in society. Andean women confront this situation by organizing and educating themselves. (Read all on 1000peacewomen).
The new congress representatives were elected on April 9 and will take office on July 28 for a five year term. ?I was proposed as a candidate for the Women?s Peasant Farmer Federation of Cuzco and I have reached Congress with the support of grassroots communities from the high provinces (Espinar, Canas and Canchas) in my department and I will not let those who supported me down,? she said, after indicating that she will seek to set up offices to facilitate communication between Congress and the communities). Sumire is an experienced lawyer from Cuzco, who has provided legal advice for the Women?s Peasant Farmer Federation of Cuzco in its struggle for land and women?s organizations. She is a member of the Evangelical Methodist Church, a leader of the Association of Andean Women (AMA) and was one of the 1,000 women candidates for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. (Read all on wfn.org).
Congresista Sumire asegura que no agredió a nadie en su juramento, 25 de julio, 2006. María Cleofé Sumire: (RPP Noticias) La congresista María Cleofé Sumire, aclaró que decidió juramentar en quechua por constituir su lengua natal y por respeto a su cultura. Asimismo, la parlamentaria representante del Cusco aclaró que en ningún momento agredió a nadie con su juramento en quechua. “No tengo la culpa que Torres Caro (presidente de la Junta Preparatoria) me haya hecho juramentar tantas veces”, indicó. Sumire López de Conde agregó la Oficialía Mayor tenía conocimiento de que ella iba a juramentar en quechua por tal motivo se tramitó la presencia de un traductor. (Read all on RPP).
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