Apacuana

Apacuana (pronounced [apaˈkwana])—also transliterated as Apacuane, Apakuama or Apakuana—was a 16th-century woman of the Quiriquires (also known as Kirikires), a branch of the Carib people that inhabited the Valles del Tuy region (then known by the Spanish as Salamanca), in present-day Venezuela, notable for her leading role in a failed indigenous uprising against Spanish colonization in 1577. Her story was presented nearly a century and a half later by writer José de Oviedo y Baños in his 1723 book The Conquest and Settlement of Venezuela, a foundational work on the country's history. Introduced by the author as an "elderly sorceress and herbalist", Apacuana is considered to have been a piache, that is, a curandera, a term used in Hispanic America to call a healer or shaman. She was the mother of Guásema, who served as cacique—a term used to designate indigenous tribal chiefs in Hispanic America—while several modern writers consider her to have been a cacica (feminine form of the title) as well.

Apacuana was highly regarded in her community, both as a healer and as a political leader, which allowed her to instigate an attack against two Spanish colonists as they traversed their territory. In response to the attack, a military unit led by Sancho García was sent from the nearby Spanish settlement of Caracas to punish the natives. In the territory of the Quiriquires, García's company set fire to several settlements and managed to thwart a surprise attack by an army formed from an alliance between different indigenous groups. Among the prisoners trapped during this combat—from which the Spanish emerged victorious—was Apacuana, who was tortured and hung in full view of the Quiriquires, prompting them to reportedly ask for peace. Nevertheless, the Quiriquires continued to offer resistance to the Spanish, most notably in 1660.

Although often ignored by the hegemonic historiography of Venezuela, Apacuana is regarded a national symbol of indigenous resistance, as well as a notable figure in the country's women's history. On International Women's Day 2017, the national government transferred the symbolic remains of the indigenous leader to the National Pantheon of Venezuela, where the main figures of the country's history rest. In 2018, a seven-meter statue of Apacuana was placed in Caracas, causing controversy by replacing an old monument that was considered by some as a symbol of the city.