Natalia Ponce de León

Natalia Ponce de León created the Natalia Ponce de León Foundation in April 2015 to defend, promote, and protect the human rights of acid attack victims. Ponce de León’s life changed in March 2014 when a stalker threw a liter of sulfuric acid on her face and body. As Ponce de León would say, she was “reborn from the ashes” of that attack to become a symbol of perseverance and a living testimony to the restorative power of forgiveness. In her role as an activist, she fought for and achieved the passage of a law that increased penalties for attackers using chemical agents and required the Ministry of Health to improve training in hospital burn units for acid attack and other burn victims. The law, which bears her name, was passed on January 2016. She is now working closely with the National Institute of Legal Medicine to establish burn units throughout Colombia, ensuring burn victims receive the appropriate medical and psychological treatment. She continues to be an inspiration and an example of courage for all Colombians.