Beatríz Peniche Barrera

Beatriz Peniche Barrera (aka: Beatriz Peniche de Ponce; November 7, 1893 – November 27, 1976) was a writer, teacher and Mexican feminist. She was a leader of the Socialist Party of the Southeast and one of the first three women elected to a legislative body in Mexico. She collaborated with writers and poets from Mexico and Cuba, publishing numerous works.

Biography Beatriz Peniche Barrera was born on 7 November 1893 in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. She was the daughter of Primitivo Peniche Peniche and Aurora Barrera Zapata. From an early age, she showed sensitivity and was given piano and mandolin lessons. She had a particular love for poetry and was enrolled in the Instituto Literario de Niñas (ILN) (Literary Institute for Girls) under the tutelage of Rita Cetina Gutiérrez. Peniche qualified as a teacher in 1913 and went to work as an elementary teacher for girls at the school of Fidelia Cámara.

In 1922, she helped found the Feminist League of Yucatán, as part of the Socialist Party of the Southeast with Elvia Carrillo Puerto, Raquel Dzib Cicero, Rosa Torre González, Adolfina Valencia and Consuelo Zavala. With the collaboration of Governor Felipe Carrillo Puerto in 1923, Peniche organized the Congress of Journalists meeting held in Mérida that year.

Peniche was invited by a group of writers to come to Cuba and collaborate with them. Arriving on April 6, 1925, she remained for about a year. Thereafter, she made regular trips to Cuba and sometimes stayed as long as six months at a time. Her collaborations from this period in Havana appeared in the journals Diario de la Marina (Journal of the Sea) and Mujeres y Bohemia (Women and Bohemia). As part of a Yucatecan state project to open new media markets, Peniche helped create the Diario del Sureste (Journal of the Southeast) in 1931. In about 1943, she and other local writers founded a literary society called Juana de Asbaje. Throughout her life, Peniche published poems and articles in her own name and under the pseudonyms "Miosotis" and "Betty". She published a regular column, called Prismas (Prisms), which appeared in many publications throughout the region. (31 January 1890 – 8 February 1978) on 27 November 1915. They had a daughter, Yolanda Ponce Peniche.

Selected works Lámpara Encendida (1970) Beatriz Peniche de Ponce: poesías (1996) Poesías (La huella del viento) (1996)