GRAIN is deeply saddened by the passing of our dear friend and comrade Silvia Rodríguez Cervantes, who served on GRAIN’s board from 1998 to 2005. Silvia was a brilliant and highly respected Mexican activist, researcher and teacher, in the broadest sense of the word. She devoted much of her life to defending traditional seed systems and biodiversity from corporate control and privatisation, working closely with her students, indigenous communities and small farmers in her adopted home of Costa Rica. Silvia played a key role in the Costa Rican Biodiversity Coordination Network, the Alianza Biodiversidad in Latin America and the Biodiversidad magazine. Among her many important contributions was the tremendous work she did in the mid-2000s to support the fight against the US-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement. Silvia and others made “UPOV” – a legal framework to commodify seeds, one of the US’ requirements for the deal – a household word in Costa Rica, and helped mobilise a mass movement that nearly defeated the treaty.We are deeply grateful for the three decades of collaboration we had with Silvia. Our deepest condolences to her life partner, Ron, and her son Eric.
Silvia, esto no es un adiós, sino un hasta luego. Sigues siendo semilla movida por el viento de la libertad y la solidaridad.