Latin America, the life of Ecuadorian heroine Manuela Sáenz Aizpuru, who defended women annihilated by slavery and patriarchal culture

ROME – Tomorrow, May 5th at 6 pm, at theEnrico Berlinguer Cultural Associationin Viale Opita Oppio, 24, in Rome, the book will be presented Manuela Saenz Aizpuru by the writer Maddalena Celano. The meeting will be introduced by Fabio Massimo Vernillo and will be moderated by the writer Patrizia Boi. Speakers with the author: Sonia Silvia Brito Sandoval, Bolivian Ambassador in Rome; Teresa Susana Subieta Serrano, Bolivian Ambassador to the Holy See; Jury Cardenas, Migrantes Movement Representative for the Ciudadana Revolución and the Ecuadorian writer and poet, Verónica Paredes, who will make some readings, taken from the essay in Italian and in the original language. As a tribute to Bolivia, the trailer of the Film will be screened Irregular by Fabrizio Catalano (who will be present at the meeting) and by Fatima Lazárte. The two Embassies, the Bolivarian Internationalist Movement and the Italian-Bolivian Association of Artistic Arts and Audiovisual Productions they sponsored the meeting.

An Ecuadorian heroine. We recall that Manuelita Sáenz was a very courageous Ecuadorian heroine, famous not only for her military and espionage exploits, but above all for having been the companion of Simón Bolívar, for eight years, until the death of the Libertador, a young Venezuelan patriot who led the liberation movement of the peoples of Latin America. Bolívar dreamed of uniting all the former colonies into one large confederation. But his plan failed. Celano’s book shows that this woman dedicated herself to Amerindian women “annihilated by the slavery of a patriarchal culture: the place of women was at home, mothers, daughters, sisters or exemplary wives. They could work alongside the protagonists of the story, but they were kept out of political life, completely absent from all the decisions and events that have marked the People”.

One of the most vivid eras in the history of the Americas. As he explains in a monologue by Patrizia Boi, regarding the “Bolivarian civil religion”Sáenz herself: “I lived my youth in one of the most vivid epochs in the history of the Americas, when the dream of the unification of the great Colombia – Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Panama – in an independent and free continent made me feel alive, emancipated and necessary to the community. I deeply embraced Bolívar’s idea of ​​sharing values, of those common principles that go beyond the diversity of citizens: ‘we need a huge homeland like a Great Mother capable of accommodating linguistic, ethnic, cultural and sexual diversity‘. Of Bolivarianism I also loved that form of spiritualism centered on the Worship of the Earth, on the safeguarding of indigenous traditions, on women’s emancipation, on an ecological and ecocentric vision of the world”.

Reevaluated by Ecuadorian President Correa. The figure of this woman has only recently been re-evaluated as can be seen from the speech given in 2007 by Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador, on the occasion of the military ceremony for the 185th anniversary of the Battle of Pichincha, which sealed Ecuador’s independence , with which he reevaluates the political and historical figure of Manuela Sáenz, a speech that is reported in the book in the original language. We tell her character through the words of her Italian biographer, Maddalena Celano, writer, essayist, journalist.

Who was Manuelita really? Manuelita is remembered as the lover of Simón Bolívar, but who was this woman really before she met the Libertador? She is described by contemporary historians as an extremely independent woman with a strong character. She is the daughter of Spanish Simón Sáenz and Creole María Aizpuru, she is known for her rebellious spirit. At the age of eighteen she began to actively fight for independence ideals by doing leafleting, collecting goods and money and creating a small spy network. She helped one of her half-brothers to make a military career in the Patriotic Army, which is why she approached the political scene many years before meeting Bolívar. Thanks to her exceptional dedication, she became “Knight of the Order of the Sun”, along with the other 111 women decorated by the Libertador and General José de San Martín. Manuela she lived seven years in Lima, where she became a member of the “War Network” of San Martín and Monteagudo: she operated strategically creating material disadvantages to the adversary, through sabotage, conspiracy and political propaganda. She organized a real women’s network dedicated to conspiracy and revolutionary propaganda.

The decisive victory in the battle of Pichincha. She was part of the Commission in charge of receiving Bolívar after his decisive victory in the battle of Pichincha and coordinated the cleaning actions of the rooms that would welcome him: once again a traditional political role, typically female and “domestic”. But it was during the reception that the fateful meeting between the two occurred. On June 16, 1822, amid rockets, fireworks and the ringing of bells, the Libertador entered Quito to applause and celebrations. From the balconies the young women threw beautiful flowers on the heads of the mounted patriots. Among them was Manuelita who met Bolívar during the evening ball and became his lover and companion until 1830.

Bolívar died disillusioned and demoralized. His democratic ideals were abandoned and only a desperate attempt to maintain and centralize power remained. Among his last writings remained immortal words such as “whoever serves a revolution plows the sea”. Manuela became involved in the politics of this collapse of territorial union and progressive values. She was doubly discriminated against in the effort to maintain political strength in the new republics: she was overwhelmingly associated with Bolívar and, after her death, she became the focus of anti-Bolivarianism, especially in Bogotá.

Considered a dangerous subversive. She was expelled by President Rocafuerte who considered her a dangerous subversive: women’s political action was considered unnatural and destabilizing. Her feminine fragility saved her, she was exiled while male “enemies of the state” were routinely killed: she was treated with delicacy because of her gender. Manuela Sáenz tried to stay involved in politics, despite her exile, but with her time the exclusion of women from the political sphere became more and more entrenched. Denying the contribution of women like Manuelita was instrumental in linking military service to male citizenship and thus reaffirming patriarchal boundaries.

Manuela Sáenz died destitute, invalid and alone. Beyond the sexist cliché of her characterization as Bolívar’s lover, Manuela embodies the most complete figure of the heroine: Dionysian, mercurial, tenacious in the literal sense of the concept. Despite the romantic image that binds her to the Libertador, Manuela Sáenz died destitute, invalid and alone, although she retained her dignity to the end. Some historians identify the end of her political activity with the death of her lover. In reality she lived almost thirty years older than her but for her biographers, this period was only a tragic epilogue. She died in a yellow fever epidemic on November 23, 1856: her body was thrown into a mass grave, her personal belongings burned to avoid contagion. At least that’s how it is supposed: in reality, her remains were never found. At this moment her presumed or symbolic mortal remains are found in Venezuela in the National Pantheon of Caracas, next to those of the Libertador.

His memory unearthed. Part of Manuela Sáenz’s documents have been preserved thanks to the Argentine General Antonio de la Guerra who decided to save the trunk from the fire of his home in Paita. Later, the Ecuadorian entrepreneur and historian Carlos Alvarez Saá mysteriously found the trunk with all the documentation.