Ana Gasteazoro

Ana Margarita Gasteazoro (1950–1993) was a Salvadoran political activist and political prisoner. Born to a wealthy family, she was a clandestine operative with the Farabundo Martí Popular Liberation Forces during the Salvadoran Civil War. In 1981, she was disappeared by the Salvadoran National Guard and spent two years in prison.

Early life and education Ana Margarita Gasteazoro Escolande was born on 10 October 1950, in San Salvador to a wealthy family. Her mother, Ana Marina Escolande, was religiously conservative and a member of Opus Dei. Her father, José Agustin Gasteazoro Mejia, was a civil engineer. She attended the elite American School in San Salvador. She was then sent to a boarding school in Guatemala run by the Maryknoll Sisters, where one of her teachers was Marjorie Bradford Melville.

Membership in the resistance Gasteazoro returned to El Salvador, taught English, and re-enrolled in the Central American University. Her professor Guillermo Ungo was a member of the social democratic party National Revolutionary Movement (MNR), and she said she wanted to work for the party. She started working with the MNR in 1976, assisting in the publication of the organization's newsletter and organizing a women's group. She became the organization's Secretary of Youth. Being fluent in English, she often represented the organization at international meetings, including those of the Socialist International.

In 1979, increasingly frustrated with the atrocities of the Salvadoran Civil War, Gasterazoro joined the guerilla organization Farabundo Martí Popular Liberation Forces. She became a top-level clandestine operative for the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, using the nom de guerre "Monica". She was in charge of international and national propaganda. She spent 14 days imprisoned at the National Guard headquarters She spent two years as a prisoner of conscience, without any charges levied against her or a trial. Her cause was championed by Amnesty International. She joined other activists to form a women's unit of the Committee of Political Prisoners of El Salvador. She was released in May 1983 during a mass amnesty. Following her release, she went into exile, living in Costa Rica until 1992.