My Life As a Revolutionary

Maria Eugenia Vasquez Perdomo is currently coordinating an NGO project in conjunction with a UN organization, which serves women forcibly displaced by the armed conflict. The Spanish-language version of this book, published as Escrito para no morir: Bitacora de una militancia, was awarded the Colombian National Prize for Testimonial Literature in 1998. Lorena Terando is Assistant Professor of Translation at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction - Arthur SchmidtPrologue: Memory, the Thread That Weaves Life1. Family Portrait2. Turmoil at the Nacional3. A Criolla Guerrilla4. The Alliance with ANAPO5. The Face Behind the Mask6. Operation Colombia: Weapons for the War7. We Risked It AllPhotograph gallery8. An Army in Deep9. Bars on My Soul10. Singing to the Sun Like a Cricket11. Mortal Wounds12. Reinventing LifeEpilogueChronology of Major M-19 ActionsIndex

"My Life as a Colombian Revolutionary is a fascinating autobiography. Vasquez Perdomo provides an extraordinary insider's account of Latin American youth culture, radical student politics of the 1960s and early 1970s, and the formation of the M-19 guerrilla movement. This is a lively, self-reflective, engaging and humane account of what it meant to be a woman revolutionary in those years. It is a unique, moving document."-Catherine LeGrand, Department of History, McGill University "My Life as a Colombian Revolutionary is a rare and compelling book. Vasquez Perdomo recounts how a young, middle-class woman became a leader of the M-19, one of the most creative and successful of the Colombian guerrilla movements. She was personally involved in some of the M-19's most audacious actions, including the stealing of Bolivar's sword and the kidnapping of a score of ambassadors to Colombia. I cannot say enough about how successful Vasquez Perdomo is in illuminating the frightfully complex personal and political issues she struggles with."-Charles Bergquist, University of Washington, Seattle "With sweeping narration, the rebel leader recounts her near-death experiences and exhilarating love affairs as she participated in covert operations against the government, providing a fascinating look at what it was like to be a young feminist within a guerrilla movement."-Latina "...gripping... Vasquez Perdomo's work makes a significant contribution to a void in women's testimonial literature in Latin America, describing her personal experiences with the movement's activities so that the reader is moved and informed...the book adds to a collective understanding of Colombia's bloody history and women's position in it."-The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education