Fresia Saavedra

Fresia Raquel Saavedra Gómez (8 September 1933 – 18 July 2024) was an Ecuadorian teacher and singer-songwriter. She was well known for her song "El ladrón" and for being politically and culturally active in Guayaquil through her music. Her parents were Susana Gómez and Julio Saavedra. She was also known for writing marches for political figures to use during elections.

In 2018 she and her daughter sang at the Museum de Pasillo in Quito, where people had gathered to recognise the 87-year-old singer .

UNESCO's representative list of pasillo singing includes a video of a lesson by Saacedra. Pasillo was included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021.

Saavedra gave her final performance in February 2024 at the Galápagos Islands. When Hilda was seven she was singing with the Orquesta América and when she was nine she and her mother were singing duets.

In June 2024, Saavedra was hospitalised in Guayaquil after suffering a fall. She died from kidney and liver failure on 18 July 2024, at the age of 90. She also had diabetes and cirrhosis at the time of her death.