Pancha Carrasco

Pancha Carrasco (8 April 1826 – 31 December 1890), born Francisca Carrasco Jiménez, was Costa Rica's first woman in the military. Carrasco is most famous for joining the defending forces at the Battle of Rivas in 1856 with a rifle and bullets. The strength and determination she showed there made her a symbol of national pride and she was later honored with a Costa Rican postage stamp, a Coast Guard vessel, and the creation of the "Pancha Carrasco Police Women's Excellence Award".

Biography
In 1816, Francisca Carrasco Jiménez was born on 8 April in Cartago, Costa Rica, of mixed Indian, Black, and Spanish heritage, the daughter of Jose Francisco and Maria Carrasco. She was married three times, first in 1834 with Juan Solano, and the last one with Gil Zúñiga; however, none of them worked out.

In 1856 (age 40), when William Walker and his filibusteros invaded Costa Rica, Carrasco volunteered as a cook and a medic. She is most famous for filling her apron pockets with bullets, grabbing a rifle, and joining the defending forces at the Battle of Rivas, becoming Costa Rica's first woman in the military

Legacy
Her strength and determination became a symbol of national pride, and she was honored on a Costa Rican postage stamp in 1984.

The Costa Rican Security Ministry established a "Pancha Carrasco Police Women's Excellence Award" in her honor. The former U.S. Coast Guard cutter Point Bridge was renamed Pancha Carrasco in her honor when it was turned over to the Costa Rican Coast Guard in 2001.