Manuela Saenz

Born in Quito in 1793 as the illegitimate daughter of a married Spanish nobleman, Manuela Saenz led one of the most fascinating lives in the history of Latin America.

Forced into a convent because of her illegitimate status, she was kicked out at the age of seventeen when it was discovered that she was carrying on an affair with a Spanish military officer. Her father arranged for her to marry James Thorne, a wealthy Englishman who was much older than she. They moved to Peru, where Manuela lived as an aristocrat and became involved in the planning of the independence movement.

In 1822, she left her husband and moved back to Quito, where she met Simón Bolívar, the hero of South American independence, and they began a torrid affair. Although she lived with Bolívar for a short while, they spent most of their time apart as he traveled a great deal in pursuit of independence. On September 25, 1828, she saved his life by helping him escape an assassination attempt.

Bolívar died two years later of tuberculosis. After his death, anti-Bolívar factions in Peru and Ecuador conspired to exclude her from any position of influence, and she wound up living in Jamaica for some time. She moved to a small town in northern Peru, where she lived by selling tobacco and translating letters that North American whalers wrote to their lovers in various ports of Latin America. She died penniless in 1856.

Today, Ecuadorians (and Quiteños in particular) have embraced Manuela Saenz as one of their own. She is considered a national heroine and is the subject of the first ever Ecuadorian opera, which opened in 2006. You can visit the Manuela Saenz Museum in Quito.