Aniana Ondina Vargas Jáquez, is better known by her nickname, "La Madre de las Aguas" (Mother of the Waters), given to her because of her immense passion for the preservation of the environment. Vargas was born on March 13, 1930 and was laid to rest on December 16, 2002 in Bonao, Dominican Republic. She was well known for being a political activist in the countryside. Vargas was considered a member of a political group called Fourteenth of June Movement, a resistance movement against the dictator president Rafael Leonida Trujillo in 1956. Because she was involved with this group, she was obligated to exile from her native country to the United States in 1959, but this didn't stop her from supporting her fellow comrades from far away. In 1965, after the Assassination of Rafael Leonida Trujillo she was finally able to return to Bonao to continue the political fight. Also, she was one of the few women who participated actively fighting the regime in the civil war of her country; she was placed in one of the most dangerous zones of the capital Juan de Morfa Street and she was able to prevail as an active fighter under the supervision of the director Roberto Duvergé. Nevertheless, her military training is unknown at this time. Later that year Aniana and Roberto Duvergé set up a political- military school in the security area of Cordon with the means to provide training to the members of the Fourteenth of June Movement. With the knowledge obtained at this school and her military experience she later became an instructor for the Academy of Twenty-four of April where she trained thousands of fighters. In 1966, she was selected as the most outstanding of the six women that were sent to Mainland China from The Fourteenth of June Movement to further their political-military training. Therefore, between 1966 and 1968 she experienced the Proletarian Cultural Revolution of China. In 1989, Aniana began a fight against the Falconbridge The Metal Ore Mining Industry, a Ferronickel mining company located in Bonao. The reason why she started the fight against the mining industry was because of the contamination and lack of water due to the exploitation of a mine that was located in the city of Bonao. This led her to found The Federation of Peasants Towards Progress a group whose main objective was to encourage environmental projects with the community to protect the ecosystem. Vargas was also a contributor of the newspaper The National, where she wrote a column in defense of the environment and the peasants. Because of her dedication to defend the environment and natural resources, she was honored by local governments by naming the largest freshwater reservoir in the Caribbean region with her name calling it The National Park Aniana Vargas. She was also honored by her home town Bonao by naming it “Aniana Vargas Street”. Aniana Ondina Vargas Jáquez is one of the women that historically broke molds and served to change the conceptions of enforced separation because of gender in the Dominican Republic, women where no longer viewed as simple housewives or care takers, instead, they were seen as key components in winning the War of April. Additionally, Aniana fought at all cost to achieve liberty from a dictator so as to preserve natural resources. Aniana never shied away from being at the front lines of the battle field. Aniana is remembered for combining political struggles with the defense of the environment and natural resources, she left an immense legacy that I feel it must be kept alive as a reminder that there is no limit that can’t be reach or overcome. I am a student at Hostos Community College, enrolled in WGS 100 with Professor Jerilyn Fisher, Spring 2020. Our class wrote biographies as our "Making a Difference" project, done in partnership with WomensActivism.NYC. Works Cited Ricardo, Y. (2004). La resistencia en las Antillas tiene rostro de mujer: (transgresiones, emancipaciones). Santo Domingo, República Dominicana: Publ. de la Academia de Ciencias de la República Dominicana. Powerhouse Dominican Women Activists. (2019, January 30). Nacionalhttp, E., Por El Nacional, Por El Nacional, El Nacional, & El Nacional. (n.d.). Muere Aniana Vargas, conocida como la Madre de las Aguas. Retrieved from https://elnacional.com.do/muere-aniana-vargas-conocida-como-la-madre-de-las-aguas/