An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence

Juana María Camacho de Caicedo

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Juana Camacho

Gender:Female

Ethnic origen: White

Events:

Connections:

Biography:
She was born in Cali, on 12 July 1784. Her parents were Spaniard José Benito de Camacho y Ante and Mariana de Caicedo y Hurtado. Her father died when she was young. She married Dr. Joaquín Caicedo y Cuero, nephew of the Bishop of Quito. He was a member of the first political authority in Popayán. She was a staunch patriot. Joaquín Caicedo was taken prisoner by the Pasto and Catambuco Indians, and was shot in Pasto on the orders of the Spanish on 24 January 1813. Camacho de Caicedo was unaware of his fate and gave birth to a posthumous daughter. She went to Medellín with her children when Cali was occupied by royalists under Sámano. She returned to Cali eighteen months later when Sámano went to Popayán. She had to give lodging to the royalist troops and when Sámano returned to Cali she was ordered to present herself to him, was imprisoned for over a month and her wealth was confiscated. She saw many of her family killed and exiled during the terror. The patriots used her house and hacienda as a military hospital. At the end of the war her house was completely destroyed and the bodies of those who had died in the region were deposited in the hacienda. Bolívar praised her when he arrived in Cali. She died on 22 June 1849. (Monsalve, 102, 256)

References:

Monsalve, José D (1926) Mujeres de la independencia