Carmen Josefina Lora Iglesias, known as Piky Lora, was born in 1940 in Dominican Republic. She was a lawyer and the only woman involved in the guerrilla war, aged just 23.
At the age of 17, Piky to Santo Domingo to enrol in university, which placed her in an environment of young people who, with increasing determination, conspired against the dictatorship. During her first years as a student, she joined the Revolutionary Movement “14 de Junio”.
After the overthrow of the dictatorship, Piky graduated from the law in October 1962 following year, as a result of the coup against the legitimate government that had emerged after free elections, she was chosen by the Revolutionary Movement to participate in an armed uprising, She was noted great confidence, ability and courage.
Her commander sent her for one month to Loma de Quita Sueño in San José de Ocoa, with the mission of preparing the local peasants and locating strategic places to carry out guerrilla activity was one of five guerrilla groups established in different geographical areas of the territory. Piky Lora was the only woman among the 150 combatants who made up these guerrilla fronts.
In December 1963, after an intense period of battle the commander of the front, Hipólito Rodríguez (Polo), was killed and many of her other comrades were arrested..
She learned from some peasants that one of her companions had been captured and was seriously injured in the foot. Piky Lora decided to surrender. She spent several months in jail and then was deported to Paris, France. During her exile, she was invited to Cuba, where she trained for six months.
At the beginning of 1965, after a year of exile along with other companions of the “14 de Junio” Movement, she joined a group of seven that decided to return to the country, despite the risk of being deported again or being imprisoned., the unexpected circumstance of confusion at the Dominican international airport allowed three of the exiles, among them Piky Lora, to escape and secretly enter the city.
Piky Lora was intensely sought and was prosecuted. However, she was surprised on April 24, by an armed uprising by a section of the military in favour of the deposed but legitimate government. She immediately joined the struggle alongside armed civilians and assumed various roles, including a Professor at the April 24 Academy, where she trained constitutionalist combatants in explosives, weapons and disarmament.
After the war, in 1966, she began practising as a lawyer. Her experiences would later make her one of the most prestigious specialized lawyers in the country. Piky Lora became, in 1986, a Judge of the Superior Land Court.
She was the mother of three daughters and was also a grandmother.
She died at age 58, on April 13, 1999.