Draft:Irma Carranza

Irma Carranza (30 October 1930 – 7 July 2022) was a Mexican poet, women's rights advocate and aviation industry innovator.

Irma was born in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, the daughter of Ramona (née Salazar) and Santiago Carranza. Inspired by her aunt Estela Carranza and her famed uncle Emilio Carranza who were both aviators, she learned to fly at 16 and later enrolled in university at the "Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México" to study a degree in pharmacobiology chemistry but had to drop out after her father's death in 1951. Drawn to aviation, she applied for a flight attendant position at Mexicana de Aviación with the aim of raking up flight hours and eventually move to the flight cockpit, having the ambition to become her country's first female airline pilot.

In 1952 she was a crewmember on flight #575 which was subject of a historic criminal plot with an explosive device that blew up mid flight causing great damage but due to the flight Captain and co-pilot skills and actions by Irma and her colleague Lilia Novelo, all 19 passengers onboard and 3 crew members survived. Irma met Sergio Rodríguez-Reindl in 1953, a naval aviator with the Argentine Navy on diplomatic mission during Mexico's independence day festivities. They began a long distance courtship and six months later she moved to Argentina. After having to work for a few months in Brazil, Irma and Sergio married in Buenos Aires on March 11, 1955.

On June 16 1955, Sergio flew as a wingman in his North American AT-6 Naval Aviation squadron that attacked the Casa Rosada in an attempt to kill Juan Domingo Perón and overthrow his government. After the failed attempt Sergio received orders to land his plane in Uruguay and then was given political asylum from the Uruguayan government of president Luis Batlle. Irma who had not been aware of the civilian-military coup attempt her husband was a part of, suddenly found herself stranded in Buenos Aires and in fear of being caught in the ensuing dragnet. With help of the underground resistance movement, she managed to escape to Uruguay and join her husband. She then sought and obtained political asylum for him in Mexico, but they both were brought back to Argentina after the fall of Perón later in September 1955, with her husband being reassigned to the "Comando de Transportes Aeronavales" where he piloted medical evacuation missions during the 1956 Argentine poliomyelitis epidemic. Because of her previous experience as a flight attendant in Mexico, Irma offered her assistance and was allowed to help attending the evacuees in several flights, which became relevant for her, later in life, when she was put in charge in 1978 of getting the Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante FAA air ambulance certification and with it, helping to create a model air ambulance service for her country's "Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social".

Irma and Sergio decided by 1957 to establish their family in Mexico for which her husband was granted a leave of absence from the Argentine Navy. Irma was a founding member of the Club de Planeadores de México and a member of the Club Aéreo de México where she was appointed general manager in 1958; In that position she hosted the first covert meetings for the formation of Mexico's pilots' union (Asociación Sindical de Pilotos Aviadores de México), at the Club Aéreo's clubhouse. Promoted to Director of the Club Aéreo de México by 1963 she helped organize that year's Fédération Aéronautique Internationale conference in Mexico City attended by Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova and Charles Lindbergh among others. She collaborated in the establishment of the "Sistema Nacional de Aeródromos Rurales" comprised of 1,200 rural airstrips commissioned to the Club Aéreo de México by Walter Buchanan, then Secretary of the Department of Communications and Public Works. In 1968 she obtained the first ever Air taxi Operator permit in the country, for Aerotaxis de México company of which she was a founding partner. In 1973 she became a meaningful supporter and representative of Aeroservicios Bárcenas B-01 agricultural aircraft manufacturer, where she achieved the funding to start the production line, from the national rural development bank "Banrural".

As a women's rights advocate, in 1975 Irma successfully lobbied in favor of getting the first female pilot hired by a Mexican airline, at the UN world conference on the status of women convened in Mexico City, helping make true for First Officer Conchita Bernard the ambition Irma had for herself almost 25 years earlier. Irma also was successful advocating in 1979 for the hiring of aeronautical engineer Maria de la Luz Aguilera in the Mexican Navy's "Tonatiuh" observation aircraft construction project as well as for the hiring of a female pilot for the IMSS air ambulance service in 1980.

From 1977 to 1984 Irma was Embraer's representative in Mexico.

In 1979 Irma published her poetry in "Compartiendo Mis Alas", the same year that she collaborated in the establishment of the world's first public air ambulance airline operating on regular routes and schedules by the Mexican Social Security Institute, for the transport of patients from rural areas to regional hospitals.

Irma also was an avid historian and during the 1980's she became very close to her granduncle Jesús Carranza Castro, biographer of Venustiano Carranza and a Mexican Revolution veteran himself, whom she accompanied and assisted during his book tours and conferences.

From 1985 to 1988 Irma focused on restarting the manufacture of ag-planes in Mexico that culminated in an unsuccessful endeavour that nonetheless put her on the path of pursuing aerial firefighting and aerial reforestation for Mexico in the later part of her career, in a joint effort with Leland Snow and Air Tractor. In 1998 she was a key negotiator with the USAID in getting the State Department's permission for allowing the Texas Air National Guard to aid the government of the state of Nuevo León in fighting the Chipinque wildfire. In 2001 she organized and held exhibitions for the Mexican Armed Forces of the AT-802 air-tanker firefighter in Acapulco and Monterrey. In 2009 Irma Carranza founded and sponsored Fundación Vuelo Verde, with the aim of providing the Mexican government with massive aerial seeding and aerial firefighting operational capability. She also published "La que se iba... y la que se fue" in 2017.

In her later years, Irma Carranza gaily took on the responsibility of pro Secretary of the Aviation Veterans Association, which had awarded her with the Manuel Sosa de la Vega Medal in 1998. She was awarded the Emilio Carranza Condecoration by the Mexican Government in 2008, for having made significant contributions to Mexican aviation.

Irma Carranza was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2010 and passed away July 7 2022, short of her 92 birthday, having been laid to rest in the tomb of Venustiano Carranza of whom she was great grandniece and always devoted to his memory and ideals. Thru her grandfather Federico Carranza Garza, a veteran of the Mexican revolution, she learned of the ultimate sacrifices of her uncles Abelardo Carranza, Ignacio Peraldí, Felipe Carranza, Jesús Carranza and Venustiano Carranza, as well as that of her other uncles that fought for the revolution and survived the war, Jesús Carranza Castro, Alberto Salinas and about her uncle Emilio Carranza and her aunt Estela. This knowledge, at an early age, definitely forged her character. In 1947 her parents sent her to live in Mexico City, at the care of her grandaunt María de la Luz Salazar to study at the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria de San Ildefonso and later on at university. Her grandaunt María de la Luz was a prominent professor, geographer and author herself whose influence strengthened even more the steel of Irma's attitude towards life characterized by a great valor, ideals, determination and care for others.

Poetry
Irma Carranza's poetry reflects the world she lived in, her challenges and tribulations, her family and friends, history and the aviation she loved so much. Of note are her poems "Perdón" that was converted to a popular gospel song by Jesed Ministerio de Música ; The verse "Qué miras en el Cielo" of her poem to Emilio Carranza was printed in the Commemorative postcard and stamp 'special cancelation' of the Mexican Postal Service during the 2009 tribute to Mexican Aviation on display at the San Diego Air & Space Museum; Her poem "Raza de América" is an ode to all the peoples from Alaska to Las Malvinas; "Hélice" was a tribute to the pilots union ASPA de México official monthly magazine and her poems "Nueve meses antes de nacer" and "Soneto a mi Padre" were published in poetry anthologies.