Concepción Ramírez
Portrait of Ramírez on 25 centavo coin
Born
María de la Concepción Ramírez Mendoza

(1942-03-08)8 March 1942
Santiago Atitlán, Sololá, Guatemala
Died10 September 2021(2021-09-10) (aged 79)
Santiago Atitlán, Sololá, Guatemala
NationalityTz'utujil
CitizenshipGuatemala
Known forPortrait on the 25 centavo coin; peace activism
AwardsOrden Municipal del Reino Tz'utujil

María de la Concepción Ramírez Mendoza (8 March 1942 – 10 September 2021[1]) was a peace activist from Guatemala, whose portrait appears on the Guatemalan 25 centavo coin, known as the choca.

Biography

Ramírez was born on 8 March 1942 in Santiago Atitlán, a town in the department of Sololá.[2] Her father was an evangelical preacher and her mother taught her traditional crafts at home.[3] In 1965 she married Miguel Ángel Reanda Sicay and they went on to have six children.[3]

25 centavo

In 1959, at the age of 17, her portrait was chosen to feature on the 25-centavo coin as a result of a competition to find the 'prettiest indigenous woman' in Guatemala.[2] The portrait was prepared from photographs by the artist Alfredo Gálvez Suárez.[4] People refer to her portrait as the "woman of the choca" and is recognised by people across the country.[5]

Sculpture of the 25-centavo coin Ramírez features on in Plaza Concepción, Santiago Atitlán

Ramírez was a spokesperson for Tz'utujil culture and was passionate about keeping its traditions and language alive.[2] In 2019, the park in Santiago Atitlán was remodelled to include a monument to her shaped like a 1m choco.[2]

Tocoyal (hair ribbon/head dress), Tz'utujil Maya, Santiago Atitlán, c. 1920, cotton - Textile Museum of Canada

The coin's design features Ramírez wearing a tocoyal head-dress, which is shaped like Lake Atitlán, and made of fabric wound around the head twenty times.[5] Plaza Concepción in the town was named after her.[6]

In 2018, Ramírez was awarded a pension by the state, as recognition for her life's achievements.[7]

Activism

Guatemala has a violent political past, and her family was affected by it: on 7 January 1980, her father was tortured to death with 27 other people. On 22 May 1990 her husband was murdered with three other people in a wave of political violence.[3] In reaction to this, Ramírez spoke out against political violence and in 2007 she had the honour of laying a white rose, in Palm of Peace at the National Palace of Culture,[8] and in the delivery of a document related to the internal armed conflict.[2]

On 8 March 2016, the General Sub-Directorate for Crime Prevention of the National Civil Police in Santiago Atitlán paid tribute to her on her 74th birthday.[4]

Awards

  • Municipal Order of the Tzutujil Kingdom (2019)[2]

References

  1. ↑ Fallece en Santiago Atitlán Concepción Ramírez, el rostro de la moneda de Q0.25 (in Spanish)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Concepción Ramírez, rostro de la moneda de 25 centavos" [Concepción Ramírez, portrait of the 25-cent coin]. Santa Cruz Barillas (in Spanish). 19 November 2019. Archived from the original on 12 May 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Chonita, el rostro de la moneda de 25 centavos – Prensa Libre" (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  4. 1 2 "Concepción Ramírez Mendoza, rostro de la moneda de 25 centavos de Guatemala". Aprende Guatemala.com (in Spanish). 21 February 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Doña Concepción Ramirez, el rostro de la moneda de 25 centavos". ESU (in European Spanish). 2 August 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  6. ↑ Doña Concepción Ramírez, representante de la cultura Tz'utujil, retrieved 3 January 2020
  7. ↑ "Concepción Ramírez, imagen de moneda de 25 centavos, recibirá pensión vitalicia – Prensa Libre" (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  8. ↑ Susan (19 December 2016). "Monday's Monument: Monument to Peace, Guatemala City, Guatemala". peaceCENTER. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
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