HISTORY

A TRIBUTE TO "LA CAPITANA", THE AFRO-ARGENTINE WHO FOUGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE

María Remedios del Valle, called "La Capitana" and "The Mother of the Nation". Illustration by Eleonora Kortsarz.

The new century was just beginning and the According to the census data carried out by Juan atmosphere in the homeland was one of José de Vértiz y Salcedo in 1778, Afro- independence. She, "La Capitana", did not descendants in the city of Buenos Aires made up hesitate to defend her land in 1807, when the 30% of the total population, that barely exceeded English invaded the coasts of Buenos Aires for 24,000 inhabitants. Most of them were the second time. That was when María Remedios concentrated in the neighborhoods of San Telmo del Valle began to write her own story of liberation and Monserrat, where they created handicrafts and bravery. for sale. The rest of this population was registered mainly in the provinces with high Registered in the parish records as "parda" agricultural production, such as Santiago del (brown-skinned), as established by the colonial Estero, Catamarca, Córdoba and Salta, among caste system, this woman defied a destiny of others. humiliation, misery and oppression, to become an Independence heroine. She was born in the city of María Remedios del Valle was part of a group in Buenos Aires in 1766 or 1767, and according to which many were reduced to servitude, while documents, she had dark skin, her origins were others managed to buy their freedom or escaped. African, and, in addition, she was a woman. Many played an active part against the English

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city, until her luck turned in the mid-1820s, when THE MAJORITY OF AFRO- General Juan José Viamonte recognized her begging in the streets. After he was elected for DESCENDANTS ENLISTED IN THE Congress, he asked the Chamber of MILITIA OR PARTICIPATED IN Representatives to grant her a pension for her REVOLUTIONARY AND services. This is how they bestowed a salary corresponding to the rank of Infantry Captain, her INDEPENDENCE ACTIVITIES, biography was written, and a monument was CONVINCED THEY WERE made in her honor. DEFENDING THE HOMELAND. In early 1830, the then governor of Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas, granted her the hierarchy of sergeant major and increased her invasions, in the May Revolution and in the wars pension. Grateful, María Remedios del Valle for Independence. Most of them enlisted in the decided to change her name to Remedios militia or participated in revolutionary and Rosas. independence activities, convinced they were defending the homeland. However, it took three centuries, when in 2015, November 8 was established as the national day After May 25, 1810, when the first national of Afro-Argentines, the date that commemorates government was established, this conviction led the death of María Remedios del Valle in 1847. María Remedios del Valle to march to the north of the country and enlist in the Auxiliary Army of Peru or Army of the North. She left with her husband and her two children, who were also soldiers in the army headed by Manuel Belgrano, the creator of the Argentine flag.

She was the only woman whom Belgrano, due to her insistence, allowed to be on the battlefield and assist the wounded. And she was there, in the major confrontations: Salta, Vilcapugio and Ayohuma. She was a part of the group of women that accompanied the army and collaborated in various tasks and were known as "The Girls of Ayohuma."

As stated in history books, in 1813 the Spanish took her as a prisoner and lashed her for nine days for helping patriotic officers flee the prison camp. Her bravery was such that Belgrano gave her the rank of Captain, and from then on, both he and her soldiers called her "The Mother of the Nation."

After the wars for independence and as an elderly woman, María Remedios del Valle returned to the city of Buenos Aires. Plunged in absolute poverty, she lived on the outskirts of the María Remedios del Valle. Credit: Ministry of Culture of the Nation.

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Illustration of Maria Remedios del Valle on the battlefield. Source: ANRED.

Carlos Lamadrid, secretary of the Association of Afro-Argentines Misibamba -which brings together Afro-Argentines of colonial origin, said: "it is to recognize in Argentine history a special day dedicated to those who were brought as slaves, and who identified with this country and fought for its independence."

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