cricketcat9:Celebrating the first attempt at independence from Spain today. Of course there was a
cricketcat9: Celebrating the first attempt at independence from Spain today. Of course there was a brave woman involved: “On the night of August 9, 1809, several intellectuals, Creoles, Marquises, among whom were the hostess, her sister María, Juan de Dios Morales, Manuel Quiroga, Juan Salinas, Juan Pablo Arenas, Pedro Montúfar and many more met at the Manuela Cañizares house. Several historians say that there was a moment when some present doubted the cause and that it was the mettle of Cañizares that kept it firm and pronounced the phrase: “Cowards! Men born for servitude … What are you afraid of? There is no time to lose! “ Manuela Cañizares was the host of a popular literary salon in Quito, a center of the city’s intellectual life. She was sentenced to death in absentia by the Spanish authorities and went into hiding during the war. In 1901, President Eloy Alfaro named the first school for women in Ecuador “Manuela Cañizares” after her. -- source link