María Cristina Gómez

According to witnesses, on April 5, 1989 as Gómez was returning from the John F. Kennedy School in Ilopango, El Salvador, heavily armed men dressed in civilian clothing forced her into a van. Two hours later she was found dead on the side of a main road. On examination, her body showed signs of torture and burns, most likely caused by chemicals such as acid; she had been beaten in the face, and acid marks on her shoulders were found. There were four bullets in her indicating that she had been shot.

A member of Emmanuel Baptist church in San Salvador, Gómez was a national leader both of Baptist women and in the teachers' union. She was a founder of the National Coordination of Salvadoran Women (CONAMUS), an organization of women founded in 1986. Since then, CONAMUS has addressed the issues which directly affect poor women in El Salvador, including domestic violence and rape, economic survival, lack of political participation, and social inequality. In 1989 CONAMUS opened a clinic to respond to women who were victims of domestic violence and rape. In her spare time Gómez went out into the local villages and taught the peasant women how to read. She did this so that they in turn could teach their children how to read but also so that they could read health and farming leaflets in order to improve the quality of their lives. However, some in authority became concerned that the previously illiterate peasants would now be able to read about their rights, and would begin to demand them. She was found dead on the side of the road after being abducted.

María Cristina Gómez (5 May 1942–5 April 1989) was a Baptist primary school teacher and community leader in El Salvador who was abducted and murdered on 5 April 1989.