Mama Coco: Mexican woman who inspired Disney, but was never given credit, passes away

On Sunday, October 16, María Salud Ramírez Caballero, who, according to her relatives, inspired the Disney character ‘Mama Coco’, died at the age of 109.

It was reported by Roberto Monroy, Secretary of Tourism of the State of Michoacán, western Mexico.

“I deeply regret the passing of Doña María Salud Ramírez Caballero, Mamá Coco, a tireless woman and example of life, who was the inspiration for this beloved character that went around the world.

“My prayers for her repose and her family to find resignation,” the official wrote on her official Twitter account.

For his part, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, governor of Michoacán, expressed his condolences to the family of Mamá Coco.

Ramírez Caballero passed away in the town of Santa Fe de la Laguna, in the municipality of Quiroga, Michoacán, where she was originally from. She recently celebrated her 109th birthday on September 16.

It was in 2018 when the woman became known due to her kinship with Mamá Coco, the grandmother of Miguel, the main character of the animated film Coco (2017), with which Disney sought to portray the Day of the Dead tradition in Mexico.

However, even though María Salud’s relatives assured that production staff came to portray her several years before the premiere, the U.S. company never acknowledged that she inspired it.

“This is not a true story. The character of Mama Coco was not based on any real person we met in our travels. She came solely from our imagination,” Lee Unkrich, one of the film’s directors, wrote on November 4, 2018.

While in 2017, Unkrich stated in a press conference from Mexico City that he and his team spent several years traveling around Mexico to learn about the tradition, even though he did not mention Maria Salud.

“We’ve spent the last six years making this film, traveling around Mexico, and learning to love this country. And we have tried to inject all the love and passion into the film,” he said.

For her part, producer Darla K. Anderson assured that their travels through Mexico and the stories its inhabitants shared with them allowed them to be inspired by the architecture.

“All the things they (the families) told the crew and the artists, those details, were captured in the film. And traveling around the country allowed us to get a lot of inspiration from the architecture,” he said.

In turn, Maria Salud’s family regretted that the filmmakers did not recognize her.

“The character is based on her features and movements, as well as the way she walks, talks, and behaves,” they told Mexican media.

But even though Disney never recognized Doña María Salud, she became an emblem of her community, and hundreds of tourists visiting the place would come to her house to take pictures with her.

She was even named ambassador of the artisans and awarded by the local authorities since her fame boosted the sale of handicrafts, favoring the community’s economy.

With information from Sputnik