“I understand that fear is my friend, but not always. Never turn your back on fear. It should always be in front of you, like a thing that might have to be killed.” – Hunter S. Thompson, Kingdom of Fear
On this day, 26 October 1881 communist Indigenous activist Dolores Cacuango was born in Ecuador to a family of poor hacienda workers. She ran away from her family to Quito, where she got a job as a maid, learned Spanish and gradually became radicalised. Cacuango moved back to her home town to help organise with the working class to improve their conditions. A liberal revolution took place in 1916, which claimed it would give back land stolen from Indigenous peoples by big landowners and the Church. But the promises of the new government were largely unmet, and poor campesinos continued to be largely landless and ruthlessly exploited. Cacuango took part in the landless and Indigenous movements, and strongly advocated for women’s rights and campaigned against the endemic sexual abuse of Indigenous women by hacienda bosses, becoming famed for her fiery speeches in Spanish and Kichwa. She took part in various uprisings and strikes, became a leading member of the Communist Party, co-founded the Indigenous Ecuadorian Federation in 1944 and lived until the age of 89. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1839392632912545/?type=3
