Zera Bolivia Foundation fosters indigenous-led education, enabling self-empowerment, financial independence, and social mobility.

**Zera Bolivia** is an Aymara-led foundation that hosts classes and events for kids as a response to colonial norms, championing indigenous self-determination—especially for women and girls—through transformative education grounded in emotional intelligence, critical thinking, self-awareness, and practical tools for financial independence.

We began in 2015 with a socio-emotional learning pilot at a women’s prison in La Paz, and have since grown to reach thousands of children, youth, and families across Bolivia’s nine departments. Collaborating with municipal governments, the Ministry of Education, and local communities, we co-create culturally adapted programs that honor each community’s priorities and values. Thanks to our community and donor support, we have provided training, world-class educational materials, and technology infrastructure to prisons, children’s hospitals, rural areas, schools, and grassroots groups—always centering local leadership.

From the “Qantatai” literature podcast to “Bolivian Thinkers for Everyone By Zera,” our initiatives celebrate Bolivia’s intellectual heritage and open new pathways for dialogue and growth. Participants often report stronger emotional well-being, improved academic performance, and greater economic opportunities. As we look to the future, we are developing our first “STEM for Indigenous Young Women” program in El Alto and across 20 rural provinces of La Paz, in partnership with India’s STEMED NETWORK.

When you support Zera Bolivia, you invest in locally driven, inclusive solutions that affirm the power of Indian communities to shape their own destiny. Your contribution furthers our shared vision of a Bolivia where education is a tool for self-empowerment, cultural pride, and lasting social change.

Zera Bolivia Foundation

The Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations (CUSLAR) seeks justice and mutual understanding between the U.S. and Latin America.

The Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations (CUSLAR) works for peace, justice, and greater mutual understanding in U.S.-Latin American relations through education, solidarity and support of human rights. CUSLAR supports the right of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean to self-determination, and supports their efforts to free themselves from a legacy of colonialism, exploitation, and oppression.

**The Problem**

Many want to make a difference or make change in some way, be it in economic, political, environmental or cultural spheres, on the level of neighborhoods or at the level of policy. However, the general public and policymakers alike have difficulty making sense of increasingly complicated realities in the hemisphere.
 
**The Strategy**

CUSLAR is a Cornell-University based educational organization that brings together students, researchers and social movement leaders from around the Americas to grapple with pressing issues. Different constituencies learn from each other, drawing lessons from history and current events to inform social action.
 
**The Team**

**CUSLAR Coordinator**
  
Yéssica Martínez is a poet and educator originally from Medellín, Colombia. She migrated to the U.S at 10 years old and grew up in Queens, NY. In 2015, she graduated from Princeton University with degrees in Comparative Literature, Creative Writing and Latin American Studies. She holds a masters in Creative Writing from Cornell and continues to be involved with local, migrant-led organizing efforts in New York City.
   
**CUSLAR Advisory Board**
  
The CUSLAR Advisory Board is made up of Ithaca-based community members, many of whom have affiliations at Cornell University and Ithaca College.

- Sally Wessels 
- Mary Jo Dudley 
- Alicia Swords 
- Pamela Sertzen 
- Enrique González-Conty
- Shannon Gleeson
- Kenneth Roberts 
  
**CUSLAR Students**
  
Undergraduate and graduate students are the backbone of CUSLAR and have been for over half a century. Students can have a range of affiliations with the organization, ranging from membership in the CUSLAR Student Club to volunteers to work-study interns. CUSLAR has students from Cornell University and Ithaca College.
 
**Contact information** 

Yéssica Martínez
[cuslar@cornell.edu](mailto:cuslar@cornell.edu) 
cuslarspanishcamp@gmail.com

Committee on US-Latin American Relations (CUSLAR)

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