Hilaria Supa Huamán
(born in the community of Wayllaqocha
, Anta Province
, Cusco Region
, in 1957), is a human rights
activist, an active member of several Indigenous women organizations in Peru and the world and a Peruvian
politician. She is currently a Congresswoman
representing the Cusco
for the period 2006-2011, as a member of Ollanta Humala's Partido Nacionalista Peruano
Hilaria Supa was raised by her grandparents on her mother Helena Huamán's side, who were peasants in a hacienda
or a big farm owned by rich families.
During her childhood she saw the hacendado
or farm owner mistreat her grandfather and rape the local women, which had a crucial impact on her life. Her grandfather, who fought for farmers rights, was murdered in 1965. When she was only six years old, she had to travel to Arequipa
, where she was forced to work as a maid but when she asked her relatives to get her back to Cusco, she found out that her grandmother had also died.
Afterward Hilaria Supa worked as a house maid in Cusco
, and Lima
. She was raped at 14 when she was working for rich families in Lima. Her partner and father of her children, died in an accident when she was 22. As a result of physical abuse and forced labor as a child, she suffers of generalized boy arthritis. She has wrote a book about her life titled "Threads of My Life" -available in Spanish, English and German, and soon in Quechua
- where she tells how she become stronger facing these adversities.
In the... Read More