Celebrating the Resistance: Building Unity Among Oppressed Peoples

Honoring the lives of all those killed by police brutality

35 year angel-versary of Lil Milagro Ramirez

Building unity amongst the oppressed

We convoke her spirit of resistance as we recite her poetry and give honor to her life. “Lover of peace, I want to struggle for her desperately, because since the beginning, I have dreamt of peace.” -Awakening


A lawyer by profession, and a guerrilla fighter by compassion, Lil was characterized for her intellect and courage. She was part of a group of writers for whom aesthetic renewal and social revolution went hand in hand. A daughter of educators, Lil played the guitar and piano, wrote poetry, practiced yoga and was a vegetarian. Disenchanted by the broken legal system, she decided not to practice law for she saw it as an instrument of oppression by the ruling political class.

Lil Milagro entered the People's Revolutionary Army in 1972, but due to ideological differences, she broke with the organization in 1975, after the assassination of fellow poet and lover Roque Dalton. After founding the political-military National Resistance Movement (RN), she was kidnapped one morning in August 1976 by the National Guard. Tortured for three years, Lil was kept shackled, blindfolded and held completely naked. Allowed to eat four corn tortillas and about 25 grams of beans per day with five grams of cheese once a week, she died in this state of captivity. On the anniversary of her death, we convoke her spirit of resistance as we recite her poetry and give honor to her life and all those killed due to police brutality.

We will then continue with a community event at the Eastside Cultural Center from 8-1030p.