Activist Denisse Cruz-Contreras seeks to support survivors of patriarchal violence
Denisse Cruz-Contreras, a founding member of the non-profit organization Red Sin Fronteras, spoke about the work students can do to support survivors of violence while avoiding re-victimization.
Olivia Woo, Contributing Photographer
Indigenous activist Denisse Cruz-Contreras visited campus on Friday to discuss her work helping survivors of patriarchal violence.
The event was co-organized by the Yale Lawtinas, the Central Americans for Empowerment at Yale and ¡Oye! Spoken Word. Cruz-Contreras, who is originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, and is of indigenous Binnizá ancestry, co-founded the Network Without Borders for Survivors of Violence, or “Red Sin Fronteras para sobrevivientes de violencia,” a non-profit organization that aims to promote healing for survivors of patriarchal violence while also providing economic support for women in Oaxaca.
“The Network Without Borders was born from personal experiences as a survivor of violence,” Cruz-Contreras said in Spanish during the event, as translated by the News. “This led me to have the desire to one day be able to support other women who have experienced the same thing.”
Cruz-Contreras has experience working with women’s rights, specifically those of indigenous women, in Mexico. She emphasized that for victims of patriarchal violence, the process of moving to a new country often complicates and delays the healing process due to feelings of isolation and being stripped of one’s identity.
Upon moving to New Haven from Oaxaca in 2019, Cruz-Contreras herself found it difficult to find systems of support to combat her feelings of isolation, missing her family and struggling to support her children as a single mother. She was also a victim of sexual harassment while working long hours at a local restaurant, which further drained her “strength and courage.”
After struggling to find a supportive and uplifting community in New Haven, Cruz-Contreras eventually found support through the non-profit organization Havenly, which welcomes women from many different countries.
Cruz-Contreras was inspired by Havenly’s welcoming and respectful atmosphere. Through Red Sin Fronteras, she hopes to create a similarly safe space for women affected by violence. Recently, Havenly has also supported her in the process of registering as a non-profit organization.
Red Sin Fronteras hopes to open safe refuges for women in Oaxaca and Connecticut. These distinct spaces will be operationally linked since the Connecticut site will sell products created by women in Oaxaca to promote their economic empowerment.
“We want to sell clothing made by women in Oaxaca. We want to sell traditional medicine made by them: ointments, syrups, tea. In Oaxaca there is a strong tradition of making art, so we want to bring both traditional medicine and handmade art,” Cruz-Contreras said to the News.
In addition to selling goods from Oaxaca, Red Sin Fronteras plans for the Connecticut space to host workshops, training for volunteers and healing activities for survivors. The organization is looking for volunteers of all backgrounds and experiences to support its New Haven branch and the survivors of violence that it serves.
Volunteers will get training specifically focusing on avoiding re-victimization. Cruz-Contreras also hopes to use her professional background to make Red Sin Fronteras’ volunteers forcefully aware of the risks of re-victimization and be able to support community members as holistically as possible.
“Sometimes women have to navigate the system and even though there are interpreters, even though they are the institutions that should be trained, they continue to re-victimiz[e] women,” Cruz-Contreras said. “If you are a woman whose first language is not Spanish, [if] you speak an indigenous language and they are interpreting for you in Spanish, it is even more re-victimizing for women. That is why we want volunteers to have that support.”
Samantha Suazo ’26 and Charlize León Mata ’26, the co-presidents and co-founders of the Yale Lawtinas, emphasized the importance of Red Sin Fronteras’ work, both in supporting survivors of violence and in the realization of the real-world applications of Yale education.
Lawtinas’ mission is to “empower pre-law Latine women at Yale,” Suazo told the News.
“We saw a very good chance for us to go beyond the Yale community […] not just learning at Yale, not just acquiring these skills, but also putting these skills to work within the communities that we want to represent,” Suazo said.
Volunteers provide many forms of support, including accompanying someone to immigration court, helping someone open a bank account, and working toward political change to support survivors in Connecticut and Mexico. Students can sign up to volunteer with Red Sin Fronteras through the Yale Lawtinas.
Yale Lawtinas and Red Sin Fronteras leaders hope that their shared interests will lead to strong relationships between organizations.
“It was a really insightful event,” said Tzideny Romero ’28. “The safe space that’s being created, that’s something that’s so important.”
The event was held at Benjamin Franklin College.