An anti-Franco activist, Maria Salvo i Iborra spent 16 years in Les Corts women’s prison. In 1941, she was arrested for being the propaganda secretary for the Barcelona branch of the Unified Socialist Youth of Catalonia. She was sentenced to 30 years for clandestine activities. When democracy returned, she became head of the Catalan Association of Political Prisoners. In 1997, she was involved in the creation of the Les Dones del 36 association, together with Josefina Piquet, “the girl of ’36” and other women survivors of the Civil War. In that same year, the association received the Maria Aurèlia Capmany award from Barcelona City Council. In 2004, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. A year later, she received the Creu de Sant Jordi.
In her final years, she supported the platform calling for a monument to the memory of the Les Corts women’s prison to be erected.
For many years, she lived near Plaça de Lesseps.
An anti-Franco activist, she spent 16 years in prison. Once Spain had become democratic, she directed the Catalan Association of Former Political Prisoners and helped to create the association The Women of ‘36.