María Antonietta Berriozábal

María Antonietta Berriozábal (née Rodriguez Arredondo; born 1941) is an American activist and author living in San Antonio, Texas.

In 1981, Berriozábal became the first Hispanic woman to serve on the city council of San Antonio, where she served District One for ten years. She became a local activist for the Chicano movement aligning with members of the Raza Unida Party such as Rosie Castro.

Early life and education Berriozábal's grandparents moved to Laredo, Texas, from Mexico during the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The family moved to San Antonio in 1942. She attended Christ the King Private School and later graduated from Providence High School. Her duties included assisting in composing contracts between and foreign, national, and state governments, as well as concessionaires and exhibitors, while also translating documents arriving from Mexico and Argentina from Spanish to English.

Later life In 1993, Berriozábal was honored with the Benetia Humanitarian award for her efforts within the community such as organizing the Sisters of Charity, serving as the Visitation House's president of the board, and creating the Hispanas Unidas organization located at Our Lady of the Lake University.

In 2012, she published her autobiography, Maria, Daughter of Immigrants.

Personal life Maria and Manuel Berriozábal married in 1975 and moved to New Orleans where Manuel taught at Tulane University. After nine months there, the couple moved back to San Antonio where Manuel taught mathematics at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Maria obtained her political science degree from the same university.