Suceso Portales

Maria Suceso Portales Casamar (Zahínos, Badajoz, March 4, 1904 – Sevilla, January 23, 1999) was an Extremaduran anarcho-feminist, dressmaker, and activist who became one of the leading figures of Mujeres Libres, the libertarian women's organization active during the Spanish Civil War and beyond.

Early life and activism She was born into an anarchist family in Zahínos, Province of Badajoz; her siblings Juan and Luis would also be active within the anarchist movement. She worked as a dressmaker and from 1934 was active in the anarcho-syndicalist movement. She was also active in Libertarian Youth and the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo.

Spanish Civil War In 1936, she joined Mujeres Libres, a libertarian women's organization, and participated in the collective movement and its periodical. Characterized as a "reactionary", she served as the organization's national vice-secretary. When the war broke out, she moved to Guadalajara, where she served as a propagandist and advisor to peasants. Portales viewed the war as "a moment of double rupture: the eradication of 'class privilege' and the supremacy of 'male civilization'." In 1962, she had already reconnected with former libertarian comrades in exile in France, and together they relaunched the newspaper Mujeres Libres as the voice of the Federation of the Spanish Libertarian Movement in exile, under the name Mujeres Libres en el Exilio. In 1972, she settled in Montady, near Béziers, where Sara Berenguer also lived, and oversaw the publication of the journal until 1976.

Return to Spain During the democratic transition following the death of Francisco Franco, Portales returned to Spain and, together with Saturnino Mauricio, helped reorganize the CNT. Around the 1980s she settled in Novelda and contributed to the reconstruction of Mujeres Libres. Portales was one of the interviewees in Vivir la utopía. Her last public appearance was in 1996, at the 60th anniversary of the founding of Mujeres Libres. She later moved to Sevilla, where she died at the age of 94.