Isel Rivero y Mendez is a Cuban-born poet who who has also worked extensively as an international civil servant. She was previously a political consultant with the U.N.’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations and director of the United Nations Information Centre in Madrid, where she sponsored several activities related to women’s human rights and poetry. She was a contributor to Robin Morgan’s anthology Sisterhood is Global. In 2006, the Spanish Federación de Mujeres Progresistas presented her with the Julia Mayoral Prize for her work for women’s causes.