Women as Participants

Little has been written about elite women who supported Spanish rule, while the activities of those who supported and took an active part in the independence movement in Venezuela have been fully documented.5 Women attended meetings of the Patriotic Society of Caracas whose members favored independence; others sponsored tertulias (intellectual and literary meetings) where plans to end Spanish rule were discussed and formulated. Josefa Palacios tried to convert Spanish sympathizers to the patriot side at her Caracas tertulia. Patriotic women of all classes made economic contributions by donating money jewels, uniforms, arms, and food to the troops. They acted as spies, couriers, informants, guides, and scouts. They hid patriots in their homes and ran the risk of punishment or death if discovered. The camp followers or juanas, cooked, nursed, and buried the dead. Others manned the barricades or soldiered with the independence armies, some disguised as men. General Manuel Piar's army organized a unit of women soldiers who fought alongside the men. Three women who fought at Barinas in 1813 died there, while in 1814 twelve women combatants at Ospino were killed and one female soldier was killed at Valencia.6 Those who did not fight lost property, possessions, and money and were forced into exile and a life of poverty. No doubt the women who supported Spanish rule made some of the same contributions and suffered similar deprivations, but their stories are less widely known. Because of her connection to the leader of the independence movement, her political views, and surviving documentation, María Antonia Bolívar has entered the historical record.