Maria Angeles Gutierrez

A Mexican labor rights activist who pioneered fair wage campaigns for indigenous farmworkers in the 1960s

Maria Angeles Gutierrez (1938-2021) was a Yucatec Maya leader who fought for labor rights in Mexico's agricultural sector. Born into a farming family in Chiapas, she organized the Chiapas Indigenous Workers Union in 1965 after witnessing exploitative conditions faced by Indigenous laborers. Her 1968 hunger strike led to Mexico's first minimum wage law for agricultural workers, a landmark victory later cited in the 2003 Indigenous Rights Act. Gutierrez's mobile radio network broadcasted labor rights information in Maya and Spanish, reaching remote communities. She co-founded the 《Voice of the Earth》 magazine (1975), which documented workers' testimonies. Despite death threats from landowners, she continued advocacy until her 80s. Her work inspired the Human Rights Watch's 2018 report on agricultural labor. Gutierrez remains a symbol of grassroots resistance in Mexico's labor movement.