Princess Warriors
Along Colombia’s border with Venezuela, a refuge for migrant girls builds peace through empowerment
The Fortaleza neighborhood of Cúcuta, Colombia, along the Venezuelan border, isn’t an easy place to be a girl. Especially if you’re a newcomer.
Yulianny Faria is only 12, and she’s well aware of the risks. “Men can take advantage,” Yulianny says.
“But you don’t have to go with them,” she quickly adds. “We should say no. We have rights.”
It’s a lesson she learned — along with much more — from taking part in the USAID-supported initiative Princesas Guerreras, or Princess Warriors. Along with dozens of other girls, most of them recent migrants from Venezuela, Yulianny spends time having fun, dancing, making music, creating art, and hanging out with friends.
She gets to be a kid here, a rarity in her life, but there’s more. The Princesas Guerreras initiative offers a safe space for tutoring and homework help, connects girls and their families with vital services, and teaches them life skills and informs them about their rights.
“We learn very important things,” Yulianny says. “I share them with other girls, too.”
Maricel Cuartas is a busy Colombian mother of three who has lived in the Fortaleza neighborhood since 2010. She earns a living teaching literacy skills to adults at a night school, while contributing much of her own time and resources to running Fundación Princesas Guerreras.
Maricel started Fundación Princesas Guerreras three years ago. She noticed rising teenage pregnancy and heard from neighbors about a rise in sexual violence and human trafficking, especially among Venezuelan migrants.
“We started with about 20 girls. They’d come for movies and just to talk,” Maricel said. “I realized the need was very big.”
Today, Maricel leads a team of five staff and several volunteers to address wider social problems. Her mission is to build peaceful communities through girls’ empowerment.
“Many of the girls who arrived here a year or a few months ago, they didn’t speak. They didn’t even say hello. They were withdrawn, insecure girls who didn’t speak to anyone,” Maricel said.
“Princesas Guerreras is a safe space, a place where they know they’re not going to be at risk. It’s a place for a women’s sorority … to strengthen bonds, to make friends and to support each other,” Maricel continued.
For two years, USAID supported Fundación Princesas Guerreras through the Conectando Caminos por los Derechos project, which strengthened Colombia’s efforts to prevent and respond to human rights violations among Venezuelan migrants to Colombia, Colombians returning from living in Venezuela, and the communities that receive them.
The goal of the USAID project — implemented by Pact in partnership with Freedom House, Internews, and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative — was to increase community cohesion and citizen security by ensuring that all members of society live free from crime and violence, regardless of their legal status in the country.
Since 2021, USAID’s support has helped Fundación Princesas Guerreras to better define its mission as an organization that engages in advocacy and rights protection, create a strategic organizational plan, formalize administrative and finance policies and procedures, and improve its abilities to fundraise and build networks and alliances.
Today, Fundación Princesas Guerreras serves 200 girls, about 65% of them Venezuelan migrants.
Although the organization focuses on migrant girls’ empowerment, Maricel and her team understand the challenges to security and prosperity in Cúcuta are complex and interconnected.
“There have been many issues here for a long time,” Maricel said, citing poverty, hunger, and violence.
Many households are headed by single mothers. As the ongoing Venezuelan humanitarian crisis has forced more people to migrate, Maricel has witnessed social strains become more acute among host communities.
For that reason, Fundación Princesas Guerreras helped many migrant families register for temporary protection status under Colombian law. Through formal recognition, migrants find that their rights are acknowledged, allowing the girls and their families to access health care and education.
“Before, most of the girls we served were not in school,” Maricel said. “Now, most of them are.”
The biggest unmet need she sees is psychosocial support, and she hopes to expand her organization to offer mental health services to the girls.
“These girls face serious challenges that they share with us,” Maricel said. “We are doing our best, just as the girls are.”
