María Antonietta Berriozábal

Berriozábal's grandparents moved to Laredo, Texas from Mexico during the Mexican Revolution of 1910[4] and the family moved to San Antonio in 1942.[5] When she was young, she attended Christ the King Private School and later graduating from Providence High School.[3] After graduation from high school at age eighteen, she went to work and took college courses at night. It took her 20 years to earn a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Texas at San Antonio.[4]

Berriozábal worked with The Salvation Army for seven years and was offered a job from John A. Daniels, chair of the Democratic Party in Bexar County.[6] Her duties were, but not limited to, “…typing contracts between Hemisphere ’68 and foreign governments, state of Texas, concessionaires, exhibitors, and the U.S. government, as well as translating documents from Spanish to English that arrived from Mexico and Argentina.”[6] After an internal feud between conservative and liberal Democrats, John Daniels was ousted, but transferred to help Hubert Humphrey's campaign; Berriozábal joined as the campaign manager within Bexar County.[6] After Humphrey's loss, Berriozábal was hired to be Judge Blair Reeves’ “…executive secretary at the county courthouse…” for seven years.[6] She interned with Councilman Henry Cisneros and obtained a job with the San Antonio Census Bureau because of her past experiences.[3]

After assisting Henry Cisneros with his campaign to become mayor of San Antonio, Berriozábal sought to obtain the vacant seat of District 1 councilperson.[3] At first, she doubted herself due to not having enough money and political science colleagues warning about the cost of a campaign, but, when Al Peeler began to run for the position, Berriozábal decided she was best fit to run due to “…her thirty-nine years of living, serving, and knowing the people in her community…”[3] After campaigning through the assistance of John Garcia, John Alvarado, Sylvia Rodriguez, and Luz Escamilla, María won the position for District 1 with 55% of the vote. She credits her values from her “…childhood, the dreams of [her] family, and the history of a people to [her] work.[7] The democratic principles [she] had studied in college became guidelines for [her] service, along with the values of Catholic social justice.”[6]

Her public service includes appointments as the U.S. representative to the Inter-American Commission for Women, an agency within the Organization of American States, and as a delegate to the United Nationals' Fourth World Conference in Beijing, China.[8]

In 1993, Berriozábal was honored with the Benetia Humanitarian award for her efforts within the community such as organizing the Sisters of Charity, served as the Visitation House's president of the board, and creating the Hispanas Unidas organization located at Our Lady of the Lake University.[9] While Berriozábal ran and lost for mayor of San Antonio after Henry Cisneros completed his term, she went on to become the U.S. Representative to the Inter-American Commission on Women of the Organization of American States agency and member of the U.S. Official Delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women contributing to the world movement to improve on the conditions of women throughout other countries.[8] Berriozábal helped found the Santuario Sisterfarm to promote “…a holistic understanding of justice, which embraces social justice principles, cultural diversity, and biodiversity.”[3] She currently advocates for human rights, cultural diversity, and economic justice within the city of San Antonio, such as, protesting for nine hours, alongside fifteen students, outside the office of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for her support on the DREAM Act in 2010.[10]

While meeting Bishop Patricio Flores of Our Lady of Guadalupe church about the Mexican American Cultural Center, Manuel Berriozábal arrived to seek a job at the University of Texas.[3] María recalls after meeting him, “…I knew the evening I met him that I was going to marry him, the very evening that I met him.”[3] Maria and Manuel Berriozábal married in 1975 and moved to New Orleans where Manuel was teaching at Tulane University.[3] After nine months living in New Orleans, the couple moved back to San Antonio where Manuel Berriozábal taught mathematics at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Berriozábal obtained her political science degree from the same university.[3]