Juana Ramirez, or known as “La Avanzadora”, was an incredibly important Venezuelan war hero during the country’s fight for independence. Juana was born in Chaguaramal in the Piar municipality in 1790. Her mother was an enslaved woman forcibly taken from Africa, and her father was a Spanish general named Andres Rojas. Rojas was also the man who bought Juana’s mother. Juana was raised away from both of her parents and was given to a woman named Teresa Ramírez de Valderrama, who gave Juana her last name and taught her throughout her childhood. During this time Juana developed a strong sense of patriotism for Venezuela, a desire for freedom for not just herself, but for her community, and the country from Spanish rule. As she was growing up, the world was rapidly changing around her. She witnessed the French revolution, the American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and revolutions in South America as well. All of these had a profound impact on her, and in 1810 she reunited with her father to fight against royalist forces. Juana participated in a multiple of battles against the Spanish. While the revolutionaries struggled immensely against the Spanish her spirit never wavered. She would repeatedly charge Spanish lines, relieve embattled troops, run ammunition and supplies to soldiers in need, and take up arms against the Spanish. She received her moniker, the advance, from a battle where she charged through smoke and gunfire toward Spanish lines carrying the saber of a dead royalist. She inspired the morale of her fellow soldiers. The rebels ultimately lost the fight, but they retreated in the hills and continued to fight as guerillas. Juana was an instrumental element in establishing new towns for the revolutionaries and protecting them from Spanish forces. In 2001 Juana Ramirez received a symbolic honorary funeral from the Venezuelan government for her actions in their independence. She is seen as a trailblazing hero of the country, and an important feminist ion for women across Venezuela.

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