Manuela Saenz (27 December 1797-23 November 1856) was an Ecuadorian revolutionary and the lover of Simon Bolivar.
Biography[]
Manuela Saenz was born in Quito, Viceroyalty of New Granada on 27 December 1797, an illegitimate child of a Spanish nobleman. She was educated at a convent, and her father arranged her marriage to a wealthy English merchant in 1817. She lived with the merchant, who was twice her age, in Lima, Peru, where she became a socialite. Saenz became involved in military and political affairs, supporting revolutionary efforts. In 1822, she left her husband and began an eight-year collaboration and intimate relationship with Simon Bolivar, gathering information, distributing leaflets, and protesting for women's rights. She saved Bolivar from the Noche Septembrina assassination attempt in 1828, leading to her being nicknamed "the Liberator of the Liberator". She died in Paita, Peru in 1856.