RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - Dressed in camouflage, her face covered in mud, Ismaira Figueroa holds her position on a hill, rifle in hand, as she takes part in military exercises simulating an invasion.
"I feel like I was born to do this and if I had to die for this... I'm ready," says the 43-year-old sniper from the "Milicia," a civilian militia attached to the armed forces. "Dying for my country, for my children, for my mother, for my siblings.... . .