Cochabamba's Heroic Mothers.

• Author: Tennant, Anne W.
• Position: Bolivian war of independence

ARMED WITH LITTLE BUT COURAGE * THE WOMEN OF THIS COLONIAL BOLIVIAN CITY LED A BATTLE AGAINST SPANISH ROYALISTS * FUELING THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM

May is the month for honoring mothers in many countries of the Americas, but it is only Bolivia that recognizes its mothers on May 27. That date commemorates an event that, although little known outside of this Andean country, is well worth noting. On that day in 1812, a group of women on the outskirts of the beautiful valley city of Cochabamba fought and died alongside their children and the few male survivors remaining from the War of Independence. The cochabambinas had incited the townspeople to resist rather than to capitulate to the onslaught of the Spanish royalist army, commanded by Jose Manuel de Goyeneche. Facing superior forces and armed with little more than tin cannons, archaic harquebuses, and courage, the tragic outcome of their defiance was assured.

Their leader was a mother, Manuela Eras de Gandarillas. In her sixties and nearly blind, she was a humble, invisible market woman of Cochabamba whose resolve had been steeled two years earlier when she witnessed the royalist forces' execution of her beloved brother, Jose Domingo.

Her adversary, General Goyeneche, ironically, was of the New World too, born in the Peruvian city of Arequipa, though he attended military school in Spain, graduating with highest honors, and probably honed his skills as an officer while fighting the invading armies of Napoleon. He traveled to South America from Spain in the latter part of 1808 on an urgent mission. Earlier in the year, Madrid had fallen to the French and the Spanish Bourbon kings were exiled. The Spanish populace reacted to the grave crisis by forming committees or juntas, which resolved to govern in the name of the dethroned Ferdinand VII. The junta of Seville sent Goyeneche as their envoy to the viceroyalties of Rio de la Plata and Peru to secure the submission of the colonial administration to its authority. The unforeseen events that transpired during his five-year stay in the Americas would test his considerable capabilities as diplomat, administrator, and military commander.

At fifty-three-years old, Goyeneche was at the peak of his powers, possessing a shrewd intellect, ambition, and a duplicitous nature. Dressed in the latest French fashion, he cut an elegant, dignified figure as he conferred with Viceroy Santiago de Liniers in Buenos Aires, whose loyalty to the junta of Seville he easily obtained. The next stop on his diplomatic mission would be the audiencia of...