Feliz cumpleanos to the Latin American Women’s Group of Princeton!
Members will be celebrating the group’s 25th anniversary Saturday with a banquet at Mercer Oaks Country Club,
During the fall of 1983, three Latin American women — the late Irene Wynne from Venezuela, with Cristina Naithani from El Salvador and Marta Vega from Venezuela — got together to find a way to preserve their heritage and language. They wanted to converse in Spanish, their native language, about topics related to their home countries, such as literature, art, history, and politics.
Monthly meetings were held in the homes of the original members. They were soon joined by Mapy Tucubal from Guatemala and Teresa Heron from Ecuador, and later by Ella Mucenieks from Argentina, Alicia Sassman from Chile, Marielisa Rugeles-Smith from Venezuela, and Gladys del Castillo from Cuba.
Today the Grupo Latinoamericano de Mujeres – Princeton has the maximum number of members allowed by its bylaws — 30 members, who represent 11 Latin American countries.
The group initiated contacts with people who were interested in Latin America. Soon, professors from universities in the area, including Princeton, Rutgers, Rider, UPenn, NYU, CUNY, Seton Hall, Pace and Penn State, began to give talks, including the late Michael Jimenez, Paul Sigmund, Ignacio Walker, Miguel Centeno, Debra Yashar, Jeremy Adelman, and Ignacio Rodriguez, among many others. Rider University professors Linda Materna, Ludmila Schmitt, Dominick Finello, and Nidia Gloeckner have been frequent guess lecturers during the last 25 years.
Well known Latin American writers, such as Tomas Eloy Martinez, author of the best seller “Santa Evita,” and Cristina Garcia, author of “Dreaming in Cuba,” have been guest speakers. Other distinguished people from other Princeton institutions and organizations have also given talks.
In addition, piano recitals with Latin American repertoire have been given by John Penacchi, Antonio Sala and Juan Ananos. Princeton musicologists John Burkhalter and the late Eugene Roan have given recitals featuring 17th- and 18th-century instruments from Nueva España and Peru.
Members and their spouses, many of them Americans, have enjoyed the culture and cuisine of Latin America during the annual Christmas and summer parties, as well as organized visits to museums with Latin American exhibits, some of them under the guidance of member and museum voluntary guide Maria Eugenia Dimas.
Since 1991, the group, under the leadership of member Dr. Josefina Ondetti, has given three yearly scholarships for books to Latino American female high school graduates from the area who excel in their studies and are in need of college financial aid.
In the group’s 25th anniversary publication, many members have written about what the group has meant for them, not only as a source of continued learning and a way to keep their Latin American identity and their native language, but also “as a source of long lasting friendships and an extended family that has made easier their voluntary exile in the United States, their adoptive country they deeply love.”
To contact the Grupo Latinoamericano de Mujeres – Princeton, write to [email protected].

