Juana Azurduy de Padilla

For the province of Bolivia, see Juana Azurduy de Padilla Province.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Azurduy and the second or maternal family name is Bermudez.
Juana Azurduy de Padilla
Portrait of Juana Azurduy, circa 1857
Born
Juana Azurduy Llanos

July 12, 1780
Chuquisaca, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
(modern Sucre, Bolivia)
DiedMay 25, 1862(1862-05-25) (aged 81)
Sucre, Bolivia
SpouseManuel Ascencio Padilla

Juana Azurduy de Padilla (July 12, 1780 – May 25, 1862)[1] was a guerrilla military leader from Chuquisaca, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (now Sucre, Bolivia).[2] She fought for Bolivian and Argentine independence alongside her husband, Manuel Ascencio Padilla, earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She was noted for her strong support for and military leadership of the indigenous people of Upper Peru. She is a prime example of a woman who broke gender barriers and denied the pressure of simply tending to the home. Her actions brought value to the Latin American woman and proved their loyalty and ability to be politically active.[3] Today, she is regarded as an independence hero in both Bolivia and Argentina.[4]

In 2015, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a statue of Azurduy replaced the one of Christopher Columbus in front of the Centro Cultural Kirchner, causing some controversy.[5]

  1. ^ Udaondo, Enrique (1938). Diccionario Biográfico Argentino (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Institucion Mitre. pp. 110, 787.
  2. ^ Pallis, Michael “Slaves of Slaves: The Challenge of Latin American Women” (London: Zed Press, 1980) pg. 24
  3. ^ Jaquette, Jane. "Women in Revolutionary Movements in Latin America". Journal of Marriage and Family. 35 (2): 344–354. doi:10.2307/350664. JSTOR 350664.
  4. ^ Knaster, Meri (1977). Women in Spanish America: An Annotated Bibliography from pre-Conquest to Contemporary Times. G. K. Hall & Co. pp. 501–502. ISBN 0-8161-7865-8.
  5. ^ Frei, Cheryl Jiménez. "Columbus, Juana and the Politics of the Plaza: Battles over Monuments, Memory and Identity in Buenos Aires." Journal of Latin American Studies (2019), 51, 607–638