Luz Marina Bernal (1960-present) organized mothers to confront a corrupt government. Her own experience fighting for justice inspired her human rights activism, and eventually led to real change.
Luz Marina Bernal (1960-present) organized mothers to confront a corrupt government. Her own experience fighting for justice inspired her human rights activism, and eventually led to real change.
Women’s contributions to peacekeeping efforts are often overlooked, but no more. This month on Womanica we're highlighting women who have spearheaded peacekeeping initiatives all over the world — from India to South Africa to the United States. We cover women like Doria Shafik who led Egypt’s female liberation movement, as well as Coretta Scott King who was a fierce advocate for equality for Black Americans and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. Tune in to hear the stories of women who were integral to creating peace in their communities.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, Abbey Delk, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Hello! I’m Meltem Burak. I’m the host and producer of the podcast, Sesta. We aim to harness the power of arts and culture to foster conversation and build peace in Cyprus. I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica.
This month, we’re highlighting Peacebuilders: In times of conflict, these women have stepped in, bringing their creativity and insight to help facilitate peace across the globe.
Today, we’re talking about a woman who organized mothers to confront a corrupt government. Her own experience fighting for justice inspired her human rights activism – and eventually led to real change. Hers is a story of perseverance, loss, and hope in the face of conflict – a reminder that the search for peace is storied, and often, endless.
Let’s meet Luz Marina Bernal.
Luz was born into a peasant family in Turmequé Boyacá , Colombia. When she was young, she studied architecture, but didn’t finish her schooling. In 1980, Luz married her husband, a bus driver named Carlo. The couple lived in Bogotá for the first few years of their marriage, while Luz worked as an architect’s assistant.
In 1980, life in the city came to an end. While the family battled rising rent and job uncertainty, Luz was hit by a car. She was five months pregnant with the couple’s second child. The crash severed her unborn child’s brainstem. Doctors couldn’t guarantee his survival.
But the baby pulled through, and Luz gave birth to Faír Leonardo, the second of Luz and Carlo’s four children. Due to a turbulent pregnancy and a sickly childhood, Faír had mental and physical disabilities that required greater attention than Luz could give him in Bogota. By 2000, the family moved to Soacha, a smaller municipality outside the city, and Luz dedicated herself entirely to housework and her kids.
In later years, Luz would say, there was a “bit of Faír” in every corner of Soacha. He literally helped build many of the streets as a construction worker, but he was also a familiar face in the community. He grew up by Luz’s side and helped neighbors carry in groceries.
Yet, the background to this peaceful lifestyle was a tumultuous war– one so deadly, Luz herself had turned a blind eye to it for 48 years. For decades, the Colombian government had battled the Farc guerrilla movement. In the early 2000s, the ministry of defense began to offer rewards– job perks, like medals, bonuses, and vacation time– to military units that achieved high body counts of guerillas. But there was little in the way of proving a body’s connection to guerrilla movements. As a way to boost their numbers, soldiers were known to kill innocent civilians and pass off their deaths as guerrilla combatants. Those who died were known as “false positives.”
But the news of the war wouldn’t reach the general population for years. Until activists like Luz, who could no longer ignore its consequences, brought the violence to light.
On the evening of January 8th, 2008, each of Luz’s children returned home one by one, except for Faír. There was no sign of him the next day, either. Luz knew Faír wouldn’t stay out alone for days on end, but when she called the police, they refused to open a missing person case until 72 hours had passed. Luz launched a search party, first asking neighbors and relatives for help, and then expanding her investigation to clinics, hospitals, and shelters. Each time she’d try to open a case with the Prosecutor's Office, the person on the other end of the line would tell Luz she was simply being an overbearing mother.
In August, Luz received the call she’d been dreading for the last 8 months: the coroner’s office had identified Faír’s body.
When Luz reached the coroner’s office, a group of prosecutors took her and her family in for questioning over Faír’s death. The story they heard was quite different from the reality they knew. Authorities said Faír had died in a standoff against the military, with a 9-millimeter pistol in his hand. They believed he was he head of a narco-terrorist organization.
Luz knew immediately that she was the mother of a false positive. She joined three other women whose children had gone missing. They protested in front of the coroner’s office holding pictures of their children. One day, by coincidence, a media crew arrived to film a different segment at the building. One journalist took an interest in the women, and their plight began to gain ground.
Over the next years, Luz and the other women worked to get their message about false positives out, despite countless threats to themselves and their families. They called themselves the Madres de Soacha. Luz also began studying for a law degree to aid their efforts. The number of false positives were rising. By the 2010s, official reports acknowledging the crisis placed the number at over 2,000 false positives.
In conjunction with the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes, Luz and the Madres fought to make this invisible war clear. Five years after his death, the trial of Faír Leonardo became one of the first false positive cases with a conviction.
But even today, Luz’s search for peace won’t rest. In 2013, the same year as Faír’s case, Luz separated from the Madres of Soacha after the Colombian government gave them 18 million pesos for each murdered child they represented. Luz told the government: “I did not give birth to a child neither for a war nor to sell it to anyone. And you did put a price on our children. As a mother, I did not have my son for sale.”
In 2016, Luz was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
All month, we’re talking about peacebuilders. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, for having me as a guest host.
Talk to you tomorrow!