De la Garza earned bachelor's degrees in Spanish Literature (1957–1962) and History (1967–1971) from the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). At UNAM she obtained a master's degree in Mexican History (1971–1973) and a Ph.D. in history (1977–1979). She also did postgraduate courses at several institutions such as the
Complutense University, the
University of Toulouse,
Pennsylvania State University, and
Rey Juan Carlos University. She studied at UNAM under
Luis Villoro,
Eduardo Nicol and
Miguel León-Portilla. Since 1973, she has taught courses on Maya and Nahua cultures at UNAM's
School of Philosophy and Letters. She has also lectured at various institutions, including the
National Museum of Anthropology, the
Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia and the
Ibero-American University in Mexico City, and
Casa América in Madrid. De la Garza has supervised over 25 theses at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels and served on more than 40 professional examination committees. She helped establishing the master's and doctoral programs in Mesoamerican Studies at UNAM. She has curated several exhibitions, both national and international, including "Vida y muerte, arte funerario del Occidente de México" in
Spain (1998), "I Maya", in
Venice (1998–1999), "Los Mayas" at the
Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso (1999), and "Mayas. Revelación de un tiempo sin fin," which was displayed at the
National Palace in Mexico (2013), as well as in Brazil, Paris, and Liverpool. She's a full time researcher at the Maya Studies Center of the Institute of Philological Research. ==Memberships==