Though the strike lasted only 38 days, was declared illegal and the workers, including Matamoros were fired, the women had succeeded in bringing attention to their need for better pay and working conditions.

Esther Neira de Calvo and Gumercinda Páez, the first two women to serve in the National Assembly, agreed to take up the issue.

[4] Later that same year Matamoros led groups in protest of the Filós-Hines Convenant [es],[6] which attempted to extend World War II concessions for United States Military Bases in Panama to permanent status.

[4] In the 1950s, Matamoros began studying the works of Marx and Lenin, traveling to the Soviet Union to see first-hand the gains made by workers there.

[3] She was arrested in 1951 and spent 99 days in the Modelo Prison for supporting a strike of bus drivers from Río Abajo, who were demanding salary and social insurance reforms.

[3] Matamoros died on 28 December 2005[1] in her apartment in Santa Ana[2] and has become, along with Domingo Barría and Angel Gómez, "synonymous with organized labor" in the Panamanian psyche.

The Library of the National Confederation of Workers of Panama bears her name, as does a conference room in the Ministry of Labor and Workforce Development.

[1] In 2006, an executive decree created the Order of Marta Matamoros to honor women who have been role models and strengthened the nation by working for socio-economic, political or cultural aims to improve gender equality of society.