Bartolina Sisa

Bartolina Sisa (died 5 September 1782) was an Aymara woman, an indigenous heroine and the wife of Tupac Katari. Her date of birth is uncertain, some sources give it as August 24, 1753, while others give it as August 12, 1750. Together with her husband, she led an indigenous uprising against the Spanish in Bolivia at the head of an army of some 40,000 which laid siege to the city of La Paz in 1781. Katari and Sisa set up court in El Alto and their army maintained the siege for 184 days, from March to June and from August to October. Sisa was a commander of the siege, and played the crucial rule following Katari's capture in April. The siege was broken by colonial troops who advanced from Lima and Buenos Aires.

Bartolina Sisa was captured and executed by the Spanish on September 5, 1782. She was hanged after being publicly humiliated in the Colonial Square (now Plaza Murillo), beaten and raped. Once dead, the Spanish cut her body into pieces, showed publicly her head to intimidate the natives and sent their limbs to be exhibited in different villages.

In her honour, the 5th of September was instituted as the International Day of the Indigenous Women since 1983.