Ana is an activist, a worker, an organizer, a mother, and a socialist who has been fighting for over a decade for the people of this city as a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Now, she wants to bring that same fighting spirit to the City Council where she will continue to be an advocate for Chicago’s working class.
A mother with Chicago roots.
Mirroring the experience of many immigrant families, Ana’s family migrated from Mexico to California before settling in Chicago. Since then, her family has considered Chicago home, but has also made sure that their culture and heritage remained present in their lives. She grew up in the Northwest suburbs and now lives in Portage Park, with deep roots in the community of the 45th Ward. After graduating from Northeastern Illinois University with a degree in Sociology, she continued her education at Syracuse University with a Masters in Library and Information Science.
Outraged by the criminal war in Iraq, at 19 years old Ana joined the anti-war movement soon after graduating high school. From there she began to realize the connections between why we go to war, why so many are kept poor and struggle to survive in this country, and why racism continues to plague our society. She has since also learned that the personal is political and that the struggle for liberation of the working class is inextricably linked to standing up for every oppressed person under capitalism.
Today, Ana is a mother of two wonderful children, 5-year-old Josefina Justice and 5-month-old Emiliano Ernesto. Ana believes being a mother is also political. Motherhood becomes political when we experience the lack of affordable childcare, restricted maternity/parental leave, and our right to bodily autonomy before and after choosing to have children. While her two abortions do not define who she is, they are a part of what makes her a loving mother and partner to her highschool sweetheart Jim Santoyo.
An experienced community organizer.
Upon joining the movement against the war in Iraq at age 19, it did not take long before Ana was organizing demonstrations against police terror in our communities, building a movement for abortion rights, standing up to CPS closings, pushing back against CTA transit hikes, and standing in solidarity with those fighting for a $15 minimum wage and a union.
In 2010 Ana fought against Arizona’s racist “show me your papers” bill, SB-1070, which would have not only legalized, but mandated, racial profiling in the state. She organized boycotts against Arizona based companies in Illinois to make it clear that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Since then, she’s continued to be active in the struggle for immigrant rights, from welcoming caravans of immigrants from Central America to defending the undocumented and unafraid.
In 2020 upon the onset of the pandemic, Ana immediately began organizing to provide food, vaccines, and housing support for her community. Seeing an urgent need, she helped found People United Albany Park, which continues to provide groceries, health screenings, and other services to those in need to this day. In 2022 the day after Anthony Alvarez’s murder, Ana reached out to the Alvarez family and began supporting their fight for justice. Organizing in many struggles gave Ana the experience to lead and a love of the working class, which cannot be stopped.
A proud union worker.
Forming a union is a fundamental right and Ana has always stood with workers who have taken up this fight. Ana has been a service worker, a legal assistant, and currently works for minimum wage as a library page in Chicago Public Libraries. She is a proud AFSCME union member that has stood shoulder to shoulder with workers across the city for demands of safety, better pay, and the right to form a union. She has stood on the picket lines with the Fight for $15 campaign, the CTA bus driver struggle of 2009, the Colectivo coffee workers union drive, and the Starbucks workers union drive.
During the historic teachers strikes of 2012 and 2019 strikes, Ana joined the picket lines echoing the demands of teachers. In 2021, Ana’s family joined in the CPS sick out with other parents, students, and teachers demanding better safety mitigations in our schools. As we have seen from the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic, worker safety is always last in the minds of bosses, the mayor, and the for profit system that oppresses us. If you’re fighting for a union in the 45th ward, you will have an ally in Ana and her campaign.
