Mirta Macedo (6 July 1939 - 25 July 2012) was an

Uruguayan Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

social worker, writer and human rights activist. She is best known for her writing, some of which focus on her time as a

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. Macedo also worked to expose the

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

and

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

that she and other women faced in prison.

Biography

Macedo was born on July 6, 1939, in

Treinta y Tres Treinta y Tres () is the capital city of the Treinta y Tres Department in eastern Uruguay. Location The city is located on Route 8 (Uruguay), Route 8, on the north banks of Olimar Grande River. The city is almost surrounded by a populated rural ...

. Growing up in Treinta y Tres, Macedo felt that there were many problems in the city that needed attention. When she was 20, she moved to

and started studying at the Escuela de Servicio Social. She also joined the Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas. Macedo became a militant

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. She was also involved in ''Frente Ampilo'' ( Broad Front). Macedo was arrested by the (OCOA) in October of 1975. She was taken with a group of prisoners to one of the military prisons. Between 1975 and 1981, Macedo was held as a

. During her time in prison, she and the others were

tortured Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

in various ways. In her book, ''Tiempos de ida, tiempos de vuelta'' (2002), she discusses her time as a prisoner. Her 2005 book, ''Atando los tiempos: Reflexiones sobre las estrategias de sobrevivencia en el Penal de Punta de Rieles'', ''1976-1981'', describes how women coped with surviving in the Punta de Rieles prison. In 2011, Macedo, along with three other former prisoners, testified on the television show, ' that they had been

sexually assaulted Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

in prison. Macedo and the other women held as political prisoners accused and filed a complaint against more than 100 people in the prisons of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

and

. Macedo died on July 24, 2012. The collection of essays, ''Las Laurencias'' (2012) compiled by Soledad González Baica and Mariana Risso Fernández, was dedicated to Macedo.

Selected bibliography

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References

Citations

Sources

* {{Authority control 1939 births 2012 deaths People from Treinta y Tres Uruguayan women writers Uruguayan communists People from Montevideo