Silvia Fesquet
07/31/2021 8:38 PM
Clarín.com
Opinion
Updated 07/31/2021 8:38 PM
She was a woman, she was black, she was poor.
She was the mother of two children and her husband's unconditional companion.
But, above all things, María Remedios del Valle was the owner of a
courage and a bravery to the test of everything.
. He exhibited them in the struggles for the independence of the then viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, in whose capital he was born. Together with her husband and her two children, she joined the Expedition of Upper Peru, just formed the first national government in 1810. In a battle she lost all three. She went on: she healed the fallen, fed the soldiers, fought as one of them. Before the battle of Tucumán, he asked Manuel Belgrano to let him attend to the wounded in the first line of fire. The general denied it: the presence of women among the troops was not encouraged. María Remedios took a risk and assisted the soldiers wounded in combat there. For her performance in that victory, Belgrano named her Captain. For the combatants it was the "Mother of the Nation". He also attended the triumph in the battle of Salta.The defeats of Vilcapugio and Ayohuma also found her on the battlefield: she was shot, taken prisoner, and publicly flogged. He would wear those marks with pride for the rest of his days. What followed was not easy. She returned to the capital where she was born and, without a peso,
he begged to survive
. He managed a pension for his services to the country but the bureaucracy did its thing. Luckily, so did chance. Deputy Juan José Viamonte, a former soldier in the Northern Army, recognized her on the street. The process was not easy but finally Del Valle received a pension and later also a promotion to Sergeant Major of the Cavalry. Today a painting remembers her in the Chamber of Deputies, the first woman to access such an honor.