Teresa Flores

Teresa Flores was born in Iquique, Chile, in 1890.^[3] Her mother, María Flores y López, was a seamstress; her father's identity was not recorded.^[2][3]

In 1912, Flores was the only woman among the founders of the Socialist Workers' Party in Iquique.^[1][2][4]

She became associated with the prominent Spanish anticlerical and anarchist activist Belén de Sárraga, who visited Chile in 1913.^[1][2] After Sárraga's departure, the Belén de Sárraga Anticlerical and Free Thought Center [es] was established in Iquique, following one created in Antofagasta, and Flores invited women of all ages to join.^[1][2][5] She served as secretary and later president of the center.^[1] Expanding throughout the saltpeter mining communities and to cities like Valparaíso, the Sárraga centers focused on anti-alcohol activism, promoting modern ideas in youth education, and anticlericalism.^[1] At their first conference on May 17, 1913, held at the offices of the newspaper El Despertar, they proposed creating a Women's Federal Council within the Federación Obrera de Chile [es] (FOCH), which was realized a few years later.^[1][2]

Flores and other women set up housewives' committees at the mining camps, organizing a kitchen strike to protest food shortages, the presence of weevils, contaminated flour, and other grievances.^[1][2] The women refused to cook, forcing the men to support them in their demands.^[1][2] If anyone attempted to light the stoves, the strikers would put them out by throwing water down the chimneys.^[1][2]

In 1922, Flores became the first woman to join the Federal Executive Council, the highest tier of leadership of the FOCH.^[2][6]

From 1912 (perhaps earlier) until his death in 1924, Flores was partners with the Chilean labor leader Luis Emilio Recabarren.^[6][7] After being widowed, she was featured in the 1924 film "Los funerales de Recabarren."^[8][9] Around 1932, she lived in Maipú with her partner Tomás Conelli, a communist leader and longtime collaborator of Recabarren's.^[10]

Flores died in Santiago in 1952.^[10] Today, she is recognized by feminist groups who celebrate her as one of the country's first female labor leaders.^[1][11]