Background
She was born into an anarchist family. Her siblings Acracio, Juan and Luis were also to be active within the anarchist movement.
dressmaker anarcho-syndicalism anarcha-feminism Mujeres Libres
She was born into an anarchist family. Her siblings Acracio, Juan and Luis were also to be active within the anarchist movement.
She was noted for her participation in Mujeres Libres, a libertarian women's organization, which she joined in 1936, and its periodical. She was also active in Libertarian Youth and Confederación Nacional del Trabajo. Portales was one of the interviewees in Vivir la utopía.
She became an exile in the United Kingdom in 1939.
In November 1964, she began editing the journal Mujeres Libres from London. When the Spanish Revolution and Civil War broke out she moved to Guadalajara, where she helped advise peasants.
She was devoted to improving literacy among peasants and helped found Mujeres Libres groups in Guadalajara, Horche, Yélamos de Arriba, Yélamos de Abajo, Tendilla, Mazuecos, and Mondéjar. When the war was over she fled to the port of Alicante where with 183 others she managed to board the Galatea bound for Britain.
In London she was sheltered at the house of Peggy Spenser for some time.
In the 1980s she moved to Novelda in Alicante province and took part in the reconstruction of the Mujeres Libres organisation, though she had certain reservations about the latter orientation of the organization. The last public event she attended was a 60th Anniversary celebration of the founding of Mujeres Libres. Finally she moved to Seville, where he died, at age of 94 on 23 January 1999.
Characterized as a "reactionary", she served as the organization"s national vice-secretary.
