Anita Arnand

And at one point, you look in her records and she's forced to call in an Informe de Probeza, a declaration of poverty, which means that she's impoverished and the state has to do something for her or she's going to die.

And then her health is going down the toilet.

She's been badly beaten trying to save Bolivar.

So this hip injury recurs.

She spends her final years in a wheelchair, unable to walk.

And in 1586, Manuela falls desperately ill with diphtheria and she dies at the age of 59.

Her death is bad and sad.

And her burial is also sad because she had diphtheria.

There are all these fears of contagion.

So she's just thrown into a common grave and her possessions are burned and she drifts into obscurity.

Well, she is.

And it is the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez that does this because they exhume what they believe Manuela's remains from Paeta.

And they take them to Caracas and then rebury them, inter her next to Bolivar's grand tomb in the National Pantheon with great pomp and ceremony.

And also Chavez claiming to be the new Bolivar, if you like.

Chavez's new Bolivarian project is very much identified with him.

So of course, all honours to both Bolivar and everybody associated with him.

By the way, feminists across Latin America come and respect her remains.

They regard her as a founding mother, a freedom fighter in her own right.

Yeah, I know she was pretty damn cool.

Let's take a break now.