Beatriz Chavez Benedetto

Beatriz del Carmen Chávez Benedetto (March 20, 1933 – June 10, 2025) was born in Comacarán, in the Department of San Miguel, El Salvador. At the age of three, she moved with her parents and siblings to San Salvador, where she would spend much of her life dedicated to education, the arts, and the advancement of women.

She earned a master’s degree in education from the Escuela Normal Superior Alberto Masferrer, graduating with the highest academic honors in the country. A passionate and dedicated educator, she taught Art at the Instituto José Damián Villacorta in Santa Tecla and later at the Instituto Central de Señoritas in San Salvador, where she also taught History and Geography. Her leadership as an administrator was equally distinguished: she served as principal of both the Instituto Central de Señoritas and the Escuela Vocacional República de Francia, a vocational school for women. Under her guidance, the latter was transformed from an elementary-level institution into one offering high school education, greatly expanding opportunities for young women.

In addition to her accomplishments in education, Beatriz del Carmen was a gifted and prolific visual artist. She studied for five years under some of El Salvador’s most celebrated artists—Luis Alfredo Cáceres, José Mejía Vides, Miguel Ángel Salinas, and Camilo Minero—whose influence helped shape her distinctive style. After immigrating to Washington, D.C. in 1983, she remained deeply engaged in the cultural life of the Salvadoran and broader Latin American community. She taught art as a volunteer at Andromeda Health Center and Saint Mary’s Court, and created hundreds of paintings and murals. Her public artworks include the iconic murals at Haydee’s Restaurant in the heart of Washington’s Salvadoran neighborhood and at the Embassy of Tanzania—vivid reflections of her artistic talent and her devotion to preserving and celebrating cultural identity through art.

Beatriz del Carmen was predeceased by her brother, Antonio Chávez Benedetto, and her sisters, Elvia Chávez de Zelaya and Francis Chávez de Velarde. She is survived by her two daughters, Beatriz Eugenia Pérez Gómez and Maria Ivonne Rivera; her life partner, Maximiliano Aguilar; her three grandchildren, Heidi Roux, Jazmín Beatriz Rumbaut, and Enrique Salvador Rivera; her son-in-law, Enrique Stewart Rivera-Torres; and her great-grandchildren, Augustus Roux and Clelia Córdova-Rivera.

Her legacy lives on through the students she taught, the community she uplifted, and the artwork that continues to inspire.