María Guillermina Valdes Villalva

María Guillermina (Guille) Valdes Villalva (also known as Guillermina Valdez de Villalva or Villalba, December 15, 1939 – September 11, 1991) was a Chicana scholar and activist born in El Paso, Texas. and "pioneer" on researching United States-Mexico border issues and had a "lifelong commitment to social justice."

Biography Villalva was the daughter of a physician, Luis Valdes, and her mother was Ninfa Teobald. In 1969, she received a B.A. in sociology from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). She was married to Antonio Villalva Sosa in 1963 in the Sacred Heart Church in Ciudad Juárez. After her marriage, they honeymooned in Mexico City and Acapulco and then settled in Juárez. Over the years, Villava mentored many other scholars in her area of study. In 1968, Villalva saw that with a growing population of working women in Mexico (around 53 percent of women working in Juarez were the sole supporters of their families) that there was a need for places for them to meet and learn additional skills. Villalva's research discovered that many of the women who were coming to work in maquiladoras or twin plants in El Paso and Juárez were from rural areas and learning to live in what was essentially a new culture was not easy. Villalva helped initiate social change through COMO, including developing union-like worker cooperatives. Other times, COMO took complaints of hazardous working conditions to the press or even to court. She was also able to obtain half a million dollars between 1978 and 1980 for COMO through the Inter-American Foundation (IAF). Villalva and others had witnessed people living in shanty towns outside of the dump with no way to support themselves. The recycling co-op had scavengers in the dump turning in items that could be recycled for money. In addition, Villalva also educated the scavengers at the dump. COMO became a center not just for workers in Juárez, but also around the world.

In 1985, Villalva was involved with bringing attention to the press about a dangerous contamination affecting workers in a metal foundry. Over 193 workers suffered from various symptoms ranging from neurological disorders to sterility because they had been exposed to radioactive cobalt 60.

In 1988, Villalva was the general director of external affairs for the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef). Colef and Villava were supportive of the civil movement surrounding violence against women in Northern Mexico, especially in Juárez.

In 1975, Villalva was awarded the Loretto Academy's Alumnae award for outstanding service.

Villalva died in an airplane explosion on September 11, 1991. to attend the graduation of her daughter.