Obituary: Death of political activist Marta Rodríguez

Published: 23 June 2011
by LINDA ETCHART

THE life of Marta Rodríguez, political activist and campaigner who died aged 57 in May, was celebrated at a humanist funeral at Lauderdale House in Highgate. It was attended by family and friends, including Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington North. 

Marta, a political activist in Argentina, fled into exile in Britain in 1974 after a crackdown on revolutionary movements. 

Those around her had begun to disappear and be tortured and killed by the armed forces and police. On June 20, 1973, Marta was one of those fired on by the Anti-Communist Alliance when three million people took to the streets to welcome the return of Juan Perón to Argentina. Up to 100 people died and more than 300 were injured. 

Marta’s exile first took her to Scotland, where she met her first husband, Nick Jennings. Together they lived off the land, growing their own food and digging peat for fuel, as part of a community near Lockerbie in the Borders. 

In 1980, she moved to London, where she trained as a graphic designer, working freelance before taking a job with VSO and then Christian Aid, where she remained until illness took hold earlier this year.

Marta was active in Latin American solidarity and women’s groups through the 1980s, working out of Carila in Islington and at Latin America House, where she was a founder member. 

In the 1980s, she lived in King’s Cross with documentary film-maker Chris Reeves, father of her son Danny, born in 1993. She was an active member of the Labour Party in Camden until 2003 and was the inspiration behind Camden Council’s involvement with the Sandinista government in Nicaragua after 1979. 

Tony Dykes, Labour leader of Camden Council from 1986 to 1990, described Marta as a “wonderful and generous person committed to the politics of emancipation who died when she had so much still to give”.

Chris Reeves said: “Marta went to Ireland and witnessed the shooting of Sean Downes by the RUC. She spent the year-long miners’ strike working with Camden Miners’ Support Group collecting money, producing publicity, organising benefits and  picketing the pits. 

“Marta was arrested twice collecting money for the miners at Tube stations. She refused to pay the poll tax and was on the demonstration that helped defeat Thatcher. In 1991, she helped start the London Socialist Film Co-op.”

Marta was admired for her courage and commitment to justice, solidarity and political change, and for her skills as a designer. She was also much loved for her warmth, generosity, integrity and selflessness.

She is survived by her son, Danny, 18.