FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2024
Contact: Petrona Xemi Tapepechul / internacional.anis@gmail.com
Nawat Language Educator, Artist, and Activist - Nanzin Anastacia Lopez Lopez - Becomes an Ancestor at 62 Years of Age
Santo Domingo de Guzmán, Sonsonate, El Salvador - Unceded Nahua Land -
Nanzin Anastacia Lopez Lopez, Nawat language educator, artist, and activist, Founder and Principal Educator of Tamachtiluyan Shuchikisa An Ne Nawat (virtual Nawat school for the Trans Salvadoran Diaspora), International Chief of the National Association of Indigenous Salvadorans (ANIS), Elder, Grandmother, Mother, Sister, Friend, and LGBTQIA+ Ally has become an Ancestor at the age of 62.
Nanzin Anastacia was beloved by many people around the world who were blessed with her lessons, her music, her friendship, and her commitment to social justice. Nanzin Anastacia was a staunch activist for the Nawat language, and for the Nawat-speaking community, advocating directly to the President of El Salvador, demanding economic justice for first-language speakers through monthly pensions to allow the Elders access to medicine and food for survival. Though her requests went unacknowledged and unresolved, Nanzin Anastacia used her platform and voice to ensure resources acquired through virtual mutual aid campaigns reach those most in need. Nanzin Anastacia organized other Nawat-speakers, founded Tamachtiluyan Shuchikisa An Ne Nawat (TSANN), and developed a system of mutual support between students in the diaspora and Elder-educators in El Salvador.
“With a heavy heart I tell you all that our friend, our teacher, and our leader, Nanzin Anastacia passed away today on Wednesday May 1st, 2024.” says ayuzin, campaign manager of TSANN’s DonorBox for Nanzin Anastacia’s family. “She will always be in our hearts and on our minds and tongues when we speak in Nawat. Any contributions made to this campaign will now go directly to her family to cover any outstanding medical bills, funeral costs and their general wellbeing as they grieve their mother & grandmother.”
Nanzin Anastacia’s legacy of protecting the Nawat language for future generations, lives on through Tamachtiluyan Shuchikisa An Ne Nawat, and through Angel Rose Artist Collective’s Nawat-language theater.
Ximusewi yek, Nanzin Anastacia. Tiu-tinemi tik tuyulu sempa.
ABOUT NANZIN ANASTACIA LOPEZ LOPEZ
Born the 15th of April 1962 in Santo Domingo de Guzman, Sonsonate, El Salvador, Nanzin Anastacia Lopez Lopez, was the youngest child of Bernavela Lopez Garcia and Anacleto Lopez Ramirez. She was raised in a Nawat speaking family, and did not learn Spanish until the age of 9. Nanzin Anastacia was a Nawat language educator, spreading love and knowledge to toddlers and adults alike. Her first album of music “Shuchiguisa An Ne Nawat” is a digital representation of the legacy Nanzin Anastacia wanted to leave behind for her grandchildren, for the Nawat-speaking community, and to all those who wish to protect the language. As International Chief of the National Association of Indigenous Salvadorans (ANIS), Nanzin Anastacia founded Shuchikisa An Ne Nawat, in order for Transgender and Queer Salvadorans in the diaspora could have a safe place to learn, be affirmed, and develop their understanding of their heritage language and traditions. Nanzin Anastacia passed away on May 1, 2024, after a long battle with her physical health. Nanzin Anastacia Lopez Lopez is survived by her three sons, two daughters-in-law, four grandchildren, 3 sisters, 1 brother, and hundreds of people worldwide that she birthed into New Speakers of Nawat.
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