Juana Azurduy de Padilla

Juana Azurduy de Padilla

Juana Azurduy de Padilla (* July 12, 1780 or 1781 in Chuquisaca, viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (today Sucre , Bolivia ); † May 25, 1862 ibid); was a Latin American guerrilla leader in the fight against the Spaniards and is considered one of the most famous freedom fighters of the South American wars of independence .

Life

Juana Azurduy had both European and indigenous ancestors and was fluent in Quechua and Aymara in addition to Spanish .

She and her husband Manuel Ascencio Padilla joined the Chuquisaca Revolution of 1809 and in the years that followed, Juana Azurduy continued to fight alongside her husband against the Spanish troops. For her achievements, she was appointed lieutenant colonel by the government of Buenos Aires in 1816 . In the same year, her husband was fatally injured in combat.

In 1818 she went with some of her soldiers to northern Argentina, where she continued the fight under the guerrilla leader General Martín Miguel de Güemes .

After her military career ended, she returned to Chuquisaca in 1825, where she died in 1862.

Honors

In Bolivia and Argentina in particular, the memory of Azurduy is cherished:

• In Bolivia, the Azurduy province was named after her.
• Schools or streets are dedicated to her in most of the larger cities of Bolivia.
• She is the namesake of the “Programa de Fortalecimiento de Derechos y Participación de las Mujeres Juana Azurduy”, a program of the Argentine state to promote women's rights.
• In 2009, the Bolivian government under Evo Morales introduced the Bono Juana Azurduy de Padilla program, which aims to reduce maternal and child mortality . Pregnant women who want to take part in the program have to go to regular checkups during pregnancy and, after delivery, take the baby to one of the decentralized state health centers for checks. As an incentive, you will receive a financial contribution totaling up to 1,820 Bolivianos (approx. US $ 260) up to the age of 2 years.
• In 2009, the Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner posthumously awarded her the rank of General of the Argentine Army as the first woman.
• In 2011 she became the first woman posthumously to be awarded the rank of Marshal of the Plurinational State of Bolivia .
• On July 15, 2015, the two heads of state of Argentina and Bolivia jointly inaugurated a monument near the government building Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires .
• It is the namesake for the Punta Azurduy , a headland in the Antarctic.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pallis, Michael "Slaves of Slaves: The Challenge of Latin American Women" (London: Zed Press, 1980) pg. 24
2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Chasteen, John Charles "Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History Latin America 2nd ed." (New York: WW Norton and Company, 2006), pg. 110
4. ↑ ↑ http://www.clarin.com/sociedad/mundos-intimos/Revolucionarias-Historia_0_956304607.html
5. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Ordinance on the Bono Juana Azurduy de Padilla program from November 2010  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-125035-2009-05-16.html
9. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated December 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ http://buenosairesherald.com/article/194036/cfk-unveils-azurduy-statue-with-bolivias-morales