b. 5 June, 1948, Puerto Rico

Educator; human rights activist; radio producer; author

In the late 1980s, an international group of feminist radio activists and producers determined to launch a new multilingual radio program featuring grassroots women's voices, to be broadcast around the world by the Costa Rican shortwave station Radio for Peace International. Project organizers asked longtime human rights activist and adult literacy educator María Suárez Toro to direct the new project, dubbed FIRE: the Feminist International Radio Endeavour. Since 1991, Suárez has circled the world, recording and broadcasting diverse women's voices discussing human rights, global economic policies, environmental issues and other critical topics. FIRE continues to broadcast globally via shortwave and the Internet. Suárez has taught communications at universities in the US and Sweden, and provided grassroots adult literacy training across Latin America. Her published works include Women’s Voices on FIRE, chronicling the program's first eight years.

See also:
• Nuestras Metamorfosis
• Maria at WIMN's Voices