"Ramona", a Maya woman, took control of the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, the former capital of Chiapas, during the January 1, 1994 Zapatista uprising. Ramona began a long fight with cancer the same year; in 1995, she received a kidney transplant, which extended her life for over a decade. In 1996, she broke through a government encirclement when she traveled to the capital to help found the National Indigenous Congress.