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Aniana Ondina Vargas Jáquez (13 March 1930 – 16 December 2002) was a Dominican democracy and environmental activist. After a period in exile in the United States during the regime of Rafael Trujillo, Vargas returned to the Dominican Republic following his assassination in 1961 where, following the 1963 coup d'état that ousted Trujillo's democratically elected successor, Juan Bosch, she became one of the most prominent female members of the constitutionalist June 14th Revolutionary Movement during the subsequent civil war in 1965. Later in her life, Vargas became known as an environmental activist and land defender, earning the nickname La Madre de las Aguas ("the mother of the waters") due to her work on the preservation of the Yuma River.
Following the coup, Justo reformed his anti-Trujillo group into the June 14th Revolutionary Movement; from 1963 until 1964, Vargas took part in resistance activities against the triumvirate, operating underground to avoid persecution. On 24 April 1965, Vargas participated in the April Revolution, which saw a second coup d'état which ousted the militarily installed president, Donald Reid Cabral, triggering the Dominican Civil War.
During the war, which lasted from April to September 1965, Vargas initially was assigned to a command on Calle Juan de Morfa in Santo Domingo, which saw significant fighting between the pro-military loyalist and the constitutionalist factions. Vargas gained recognition as a prominent female member of the constitutionalist movement, and, alongside Roberto Duvergé, established the Academia 24 de Abril, a combatant training facility in Eugenio María de Hostos Park. Vargas subsequently commanded revolutionary activities in the Padres Las Casas, Azula, and in the rural communities of Puerto Plata.
In June 1965, Vargas was among six female resistance members who were sent to China to receive further training. She subsequently experienced the Cultural Revolution during her time in the country. While Vargas was abroad, the loyalists won the civil war, with a ceasefire and new elections being agreed. She returned to the Dominican Republic in 1968.
By the end of the decade, Vargas had re-emerged as an environmental activist and land defender in her home province of Monseñor Nouel. She led a successful campaign against Falconbridge Dominicana, a Ferroalloy mining company that sought to operate in Bonao. In the 1990s, Vargas re-emerged as an environmental activist and land defender in her home province of Monseñor Nouel. She led a successful campaign against Falconbridge Dominicana, a ferronickel mining company that sought to operate in Bonao. Around this time, she also became actively involved in the peasant movement through the Federation of Farmers Towards Progress (Spanish: Federación de Campesinos Hacia el Progreso, FCHP), an organization founded by farmers from the Alto Yuna region under the leadership of Esteban Polanco Colón. Her participation in the federation was highly valued, especially for her commitment to rural and environmental causes, although she eventually stepped away from the organization.
Vargas became a regular contributor for El Nacional, where she wrote columns primarily focused on issues facing the environment, as well as farmers and rural communities.
The Dominican government named the Aniana Vargas National Park after her. Located primarily in her home province, it includes within it the Hatillo Dam, the largest freshwater reservoir in the Caribbean, and is also a noted location of prehistoric . The Yuna River, which Vargas spent the last decades of her life defending, runs through the park.
A street named after Vargas exists in her hometown of Bonao.
A documentary about Vargas, entitled Aniana Vargas: la mariposa entre hortensias (" Aniana Vargas: The Butterfly between Hydrangeas) and directed by Max Garcia, premiered in 2012.
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