About the Author

Jánelle Marina Méndez Viera[17] is a Puerto Rican-American human rights CEO, consultant, activist, social scientific autodidact theoretic researcher, author, inventor, FinTech entrepreneur and former United States Marine. She is known for founding the Military Sexual Trauma Movement (MSTM), a nonprofit organization advocating for victims of sexual trauma in the United States Armed Forces.[8][31] She is also known for being the author of the No Paper Bills, which became the Restoration of Honor Act after they were signed into law by former Governor Andrew Cuomo on Veteran’s Day of 2019.[20][28][29]

Jánelle Marina Méndez Viera grew up in the lower Hudson Valley region of Westchester County, New York, was raised in the city of Peekskill, New York an area known as the Puerto Rican Diaspora, where she was exposed to a diverse range of cultural influences. As a child, Méndez Viera was drawn to her Taíno Native American heritage, and she often explored the history, music, instruments, tools, language, and traditions of her ancestors. [1] 

This early interest in her Native American heritage would later inspire her use of nudity as a form of protest. Drawing on historical events from the Colombian era during Christopher Columbus's exploration to the Caribbean islands known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. [2]  Méndez Viera faced a lot of childhood adversity, most notably by relatives for abuse and maltreatment in Westchester County, New York during the beginning of her freshman year at Lakeland High School. These events caused Méndez Viera to be separated from her siblings. She moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, with her father where she attended E.A. Laney High School and boxed competitively for U.S.A. Boxing's junior olympic division.

At age sixteen, Méndez Viera enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. during her senior year after she skipped eleventh grade.[6] Méndez Viera endured multiple  forms of sexual violence beginning at her enlistment up until her separation.[6][8] Méndez Viera also endured torture when she came forward to report that she was a victim of child pornography and child-sex trafficking while at Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) for Nuclear, Biological, Radiological, and Chemical School in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri,[6] a base known for a string of child sexual slavery and child sex crimes by active duty military leaders.[3][4][5] 

Méndez Viera  fled the base after her experiences of abuse were covered up and she was prevented from accessing legal and medical assistance.[6] After a short stay in Philadelphia where she was forced in to prostitution she turned herself in at Quantico, Virginia and was raped by a Gunnery Sergeant.[6] She was arbitrarily incarcerated after reporting the incident, but a Naval Judge dismissed all charges against her.[6] She was forced to accept a retaliatory discharge after another set of charges was filed against her.[6]

As Méndez grew older, during her early twenties, she became increasingly involved in activism and social justice issues while she was employed on Wall Street at J.P.Morgan and Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.[7] She quickly became a J.P. Morgan Ambassador for Civic Engagement while studying corporate finance at Post University. It is at J.P. Morgan, where she began working on human rights issues after she experienced military sexual trauma (MST) and child-sexual slavery while serving in the United States Marine Corps. between ages sixteen thru eighteen.[8][9] She quickly became known for her passionate advocacy and her willingness to take bold action to advance the rights of marginalized communities. During her time working in finance, Méndez Viera went on to found the Military Sexual Trauma Movement.[8][19][21][31]  

She has advocated for  issues such as better healthcare, welfare, and policy reform for victims of military sexual trauma[20][27][29] and protection for LGBTQ+ veterans.[28] Méndez Viera has organized, led protests, and sit-ins  in New York and Washington D.C. She has traveled throughout the United States and gave speeches surrounding the topic of military sexual trauma, most notably in Texas, Washington D.C. and New York.[21][33] She has also written columns for publication on this topic for publications such as the Poughkeepsie Journal.[34]

Throughout her career, Méndez Viera has been met with resistance from those who oppose her work.[22] 

Méndez Viera authored and lobbied for the No Bad Paper Bills in New York State that was signed into law as the Restoration of Honor Act of 2019. The Restoration of Honor Act of 2019 is the first intersectional military and veteran’s legislation in U.S. history and provides discharge upgrades through New York State for veterans who experienced a retaliatory or discriminatory discharge due to MST, TBI, PTSD, other mental and physical disabilities, LGBTQIA+ status, or minority status.[28] 

A few weeks after the passage of the Restoration of Honor Act of 2019, Méndez Viera went to Washington D.C. during the Trump Impeachment hearings to urge members of Congress to vote in favor of impeachment citing a need for accountability.[36] In 2020, Méndez Viera was one of the organizers of a march in Poughkeepsie, New York during the pandemic when thousands of protesters came out to march in reaction to the death of George Floyd. Méndez Viera gave a speech on police brutality and racial inequality in America.[35] 

Soon after Méndez Viera gave a speech at another march for the rally in support of black lives in Pleasant Valley, New York that turned violent when counter-protesters with Blue Lives Matter incited violence. Méndez Viera went on to co-author a local civil rights law to prevent violence at future protests. Later in the year on Veteran’s Day of 2020 Méndez Viera organized and led the Fight for our Freedom press conference in Washington D.C.  where she successfully raised awareness about two female minority veterans who were arbitrarily incarcerated after reporting their experiences being victims of military sexual violence. Both women were subsequently released from the brig.[19]

Méndez Viera is known for also being the author of the Military Industry Regulatory Authority (MIRA) bills and on July 8, 2021 MIRA bills were signed into law via executive order by President Joe Biden and became the Independent Review Commission (IRC) on Sexual Assault in the Military. [20]

Méndez Viera has also been recognized by members of Congress for her leadership, organization of veterans, and lobbying efforts of MIRA in US Congress that went on to shape the Military Justice Improvement Act that was passed in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023 (NDAA 2023) as well as for her contributions to support the I Am Vanessa Guillen Act of 2022 by organizing veterans to lobby members of congress to co-sign on to the federal bill. [17]

Welsh biographer Eleanor Wait published the 2022 biography,  Boricua Gringa: The Biography of Jánelle Marina Méndez Viera, which chronicles Méndez Viera’s life experiences and human rights activism.[6] In 2022, Méndez Viera received  the cure for MST-related C-PTSD known as the Séllate Ganglion Blocker, which reverses the over activation of nerves in the neck that stimulate the overproduction of norepinephrine and adrenaline. Méndez Viera was finally able to access the cure through the Stella Trauma Center after VA denied her the treatment.[30] 

One of the most prolific ways in which Méndez Viera has used her body to protest is through the use of nudity. She has participated in a number of naked protests to raise awareness of issues surrounding police brutality, military sexual violence, gender equality, and the rights of transgender individuals. Méndez Viera stripped naked in protest art to draw attention to the human rights issues she is peacefully protesting, and to demonstrate the vulnerability and powerlessness of those who are oppressed. In 2018, after struggling with infertility issues and miscarrying Méndez Viera founded and launched the Military Sexual Trauma Movement in Dutchess County, New York.[15][16]

Méndez has also drawn on her Taíno heritage in her use of nudity as a form of protest. In many Caribbean indigenous cultures, nudity is seen as a natural and sacred state, and is often used in spiritual practices and rituals. Méndez Viera has embraced this Puerto Rican resistance cultural tradition, and has used her naked body as a powerful symbol of resistance and liberation to promote freedom of speech that democracy offers in a era in American history when democracy is under threat. As well as her connection to her Afro-Taíno heritage, have been key inspirations for her use of nudity as a form of protest. Through her courageous and provocative demonstrations, Méndez Viera has brought attention to important social justice issues that often go overlooked, and has helped to advance the rights of marginalized communities, most notably within the U.S. Military. Some of her work in human rights is featured in the Library of Congress. [17]

Méndez Viera is currently working on her book, "The Pathway Towards Peace: U.S. Human Rights Manifesto," in which she debuts her work as an interdisciplinary social scientific autodidact theorist and researcher. She introduces a new theory called psychosocial racism and sexism, which builds off of the well-known theories of psychological racism by Harvard Alumnus Alan Poussaint and sociological theory of the concept of race by WEB DuBois. Méndez Viera synthesizes these two theories, which were once argued to be competing theories, through her development of the radicalization pipeline model. With this theory, she aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the intersection of mass communication on the psychology of viewers and the sociology of Americans. 

As part of her self-funded research, Méndez Viera relocated to the Dominican Republic for a year to study the anthropological impacts of psychosocial racism and sexism on marginalized communities, through the lens of race and gender in the context of human rights. She documented and researched modern Haitian enslavement in the Dominican Republic and the role that the United States has played in destabilizing the Haitian government in order to control the Caribbean nation’s resources to include the highly sought-after and rare Iridium deposits located in Haiti.

Méndez Viera’s work also provides a blueprint for achieving peace and justice in the United States, through addressing the causes of the radicalization pipeline. Jánelle Marina takes an social scientific interdisciplinary approach to addressing the issues plaguing American lives. Through the radicalization pipeline model Méndez Viera aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how men and teenage boys are lured into extremist communities to become “defenders of patriarchy” and how they develop into misogynists and racists who in turn perpetuate mass violence, gender violence, modern slavery and domestic terrorism in the United States. [38]

Méndez Viera has been recognized for her groundbreaking self-funded research on modern slavery in the Caribbean and its ties to American politics with the prestigious 2022 Human Rights Award presented by the U.S. Institute of Diplomacy and Human Rights. 

Despite her accomplishments, the award-winning interdisciplinary social scientific autodidact theoretical researcher shared with followers that she was mass reported after she went viral on TikTok for exposing the sugar industry's ties to both Florida politicians and the modern enslavement of Haitians in the Dominican Republic. This only further emphasizes the importance of speaking up and out against human rights abuses, especially when facing resistance from powerful forces. 

Méndez Viera has been praised and recognized for her advocacy for human rights, most notably for authoring and successfully lobbying for the Restoration of Honor Act of 2019, which was the first intersectional military and veterans legislation in U.S. history. Other legislative successes include the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military, which was signed into law by President Joseph Biden in 2021. 

In her upcoming book, "The Pathway Towards Peace: U.S. Human Rights Manifesto", Méndez Viera documents Haitians' enslavement in the Dominican Republic for American exports and investments, while examining male psychology in the U.S. Méndez Viera discusses her new theory called psychosocial racism and sexism which examines, in her view, how mass media funded by billionaires and corporations such as sugar barons creates the radicalization pipeline which leads to violence against women and minorities. 

Since going viral on TikTok during football's biggest night of the year, Méndez Viera advised that her account, Boricua.Gringa, has suffered from mass reporting and has had many videos taken down that were restored upon appeal. Jánelle Marina shared a number of posts showing the ongoing harassment campaign.[38] 

Jánelle Marina Méndez Viera is an inventor who has filed provisional patent applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the U.S. Liberty Coin, a virtual currency backed by the USD. The U.S. Liberty Coin is an innovative tool that seeks to abolish slavery in various supply chains by creating an automated modern slavery regulatory process that is significantly more efficient and affordable than current methods.

The U.S. Liberty Coin's automated process identifies modern slavery risks in the supply chain and provides economic sanctions and reports to regulatory authorities. This approach is more efficient than traditional methods that require extensive manual audits, which can be time-consuming and expensive. By using an automated process, the U.S. Liberty Coin can identify modern slavery risks quickly and provide real-time reporting to regulatory authorities.

Money seized from modern slave owners will be transferred to a fund for the newly freed slaves to rebuild their lives without having to go through decades of litigation to pursue justice. This approach provides a more direct way to support those affected by modern slavery, rather than relying on lengthy legal processes.

Overall, Jánelle Marina Méndez Viera's U.S. Liberty Coin has the potential to make a significant impact on the fight against modern slavery by providing a more efficient and affordable way to identify and address modern slavery risks in supply chains. It represents a promising step forward in the ongoing effort to eradicate modern slavery and create a more just and equitable world.

1. ^ Méndez Viera, Jánelle Marina (2022). "The Controversial American Political Debate: Is Female Nudity Empowering?". Medium.com.
2. ^ Marino, Ruggero (2016). Christopher Columbus: The Last Templar. Italy: Destiny Publishing.
3. ^ "Fort Leonard Wood staff sergeant accused of child sex crimes". KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. July 21, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
4. ^ "Former Youth Director at Fort Leonard Wood Sentenced to 30 Years for Child Sexual Abuse". www.justice.gov. October 28, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
5. ^ Winkie, Davis (July 8, 2021). "Fort Leonard Wood chaplain to plead guilty to child sexual abuse". Army Times. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
6. ^ Wait, Eleanor (2022). Boricua Gringa: The Biography of Jánelle Marina Méndez Viera (Limited Edition Autographed Hard Cover ed.). United States of America: Flourish Under Fire Publishing. pp. 1–151. ISBN 978-1667856100.
7. ^ "Jánelle Marina Méndez". Securities Exchange Commission. 2022.
8. ^ "Hudson Valley Marine shares her story of rape, sexual harassment during her service". News 12 - Hudson Valley. May 27, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
9. ^ "UN Optional Protocol on Children Soldiers & The Human Rights Abuses Children Soldiers Endure" (PDF). United Nations. 2020.
10. ^ Méndez Viera, Jánelle Marina (2022). "As a Survivor of Military Sexual Trauma, I am Infuriated with Vanessa Guillén's Family". Medium.com.
11. ^ "Citi meeting protest prompts apology on pipeline finance steps". Reuters. April 25, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
12. ^ "USA: Citi CEO says bank approved Dakota Access Pipeline loan without sufficient regard for indigenous peoples' concerns". Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
13. ^ "The Citi Blog - Citi's Letter to Investors Regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline". Citi Blog. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
14. ^ "Jane Fraser". Forbes. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
15. ^ Mendez, Janelle Marina. "Military continues to fail rape and sexual assault victims: Column". Poughkeepsie Journal. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
16. ^ "Janelle Marina Mendez gives a powerful speech on Military Sexual Trauma (MST) at 2019 Women's March". Daily Kos. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
17. ^ Hite, Blake (2020). "Janelle Marina Mendez-Viera Collection". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
18. ^ "Boricua Gringa Human Rights Strategies Advisory". Boricua Gringa Human Rights Strategic Advisory. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
19. ^ Athey, Philip (November 16, 2020). "These 2 female Marines are in the brig on assault charges. Both claim trauma from rape". Marine Corps Times. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
20. ^ Welber, Bobby. "President Biden To Adopt Bill Started By Hudson Valley Marine". Hudson Valley Post. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
21. ^ Beltran, Jacob (July 6, 2020). "Mourners at vigil call for investigation into Vanessa Guillén's death". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
22. ^ "Docket for HUBAY v. MENDEZ, 2:19-cv-01327 - CourtListener.com". CourtListener. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
23. ^ "Marine disciplined for urging people who opposed tanks at Trump's July 4th event to kill themselves". Task & Purpose. August 30, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
24. ^ Foster, Caitlin (January 8, 2019). "US Marine in hot water after blaming underage girls for statutory rape". Business Insider. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
25. ^ "Second Marine NCO disciplined for Facebook comments defending R. Kelly and statutory rape". Task & Purpose. February 28, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
26. ^ "Advocate: 2 female Marines incarcerated, denied mental health care after alleging sex abuse". News 12 - Hudson Valley. November 18, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
27. ^ "Veterans Who Have Experienced Military Sexual Trauma Issue Public Statement – Veterans News Report". Retrieved December 13, 2022.
28. ^ Varon, Michael Lawrence; PLLC. "Military Sexual Trauma Bill Leads to Expanded Benefits for Servicemembers". Michael Lawrence Varon, PLLC. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
29. ^ "Military Sexual Assault Victim Applauds New Access To NYS Veterans Benefits". WAMC. December 4, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
30. ^ Todd (June 7, 2022). "Former Marine suing the feds for failing to treat PTSD". Mid Hudson News. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
31. Jackson, Kaylah. “Military Sexual Trauma Movement.” Audacy News, RADIO.COM, 2 Oct. 2019, 
32. Hubay v. MSTM, 500 F. Supp. 3d 438 | Casetext Citator.” Casetext Legal Research Platform, PACER, 2020
33. Hudson Valley Veterans Taskforce Meeting 
34. Mendez, Janelle Marina. “Military Continues to Fail Rape and Sexual Assault Victims: Column.” Poughkeepsie Journal , Oct. 2018
35. Woyton, Michael. “Thousands In Poughkeepsie Protest Death Of George Floyd | Mid Hudson Valley, NY Patch.” Mid Hudson Valley, NY Patch, Patch, 3 June 2020
36. Munson, Emilie. “Five Days of Impeachment Hearings Draw Spectators and Buzz.” Times Union, Times Union, 21 Nov. 2019.
37. Radio Kingston: Pleasant Valley Riot at the Rally for Black Lives.” Radio Kingston, 2020.
38. Jánelle Marina Méndez Viera Awarded the Prestigious 2022 Human Rights Award. U.S. Institute of Diplomacy and Human Rights. Morningstar, Feb. 2023.