La Gaitana

La Gaitana, also known as Guaitipan, was a cacica of the indigenous Yalcón people in the 16th century. She led her people in a resistance that delayed the colonization of southern Colombia for decades. The conquistador Pedro de Añasco burned La Gaitana’s son alive and forced her to witness his death. Afterwards, she summoned an army of twelve thousand Indians who defeated the conquistador and handed him over to the cacica for her to give him a slow death. Her revenge served to fuel the desire to confront and oppose the Conquest in the peoples of what is now southwestern Colombia, making her an icon of indigenous struggles.