A sad farewell to indigenous leader Tránsito Amaguaña (1909-2009)

Silvia Cuevas-Morales (Madrid)

The world has recently lost one of the most important leaders of the indigenous
movement in Latin America. For those who don’t know her here’s my humble homage
to her 100 years of struggle.

Rosa Elena Tránsito Amaguaña Alba was born in Pesillo, Ecuador, in 1909. She spent
her childhood at La Chimba, property of a rich landowner. Her parents worked
alongside other peasant workers who were forced to work seven days a week without a
salary. For their hard work they were alowed a tiny piece of land where they could live
and cultivate their own food. At the early age of seven, Tránsito started working at the
property but at her mother’s insistence she started school. However, she left soon after,
as indigenous children were often humiliated for not speaking Spanish.

At the property it was usual for young girls to be raped by the owners so her mother
forced her to marry an older man. She was only fourteen and he was twenty five. At
fifteen she became a mother and had to suffer the continuous beatings perpetrated by
her husband. At this young age she began to clandestinely attend meetings organized by
the Socialist Party. Her husband reacted fiercely when he found out she was attending
meetings and mixing with “whites”, and accused her of having extra marital affairs.
After one of the meetings he beat her until he tired himself out and next morning she
discovered her baby dead in his cot. Despite this, Tránsito continued to attend meetings
with other indigenous leaders, until she finally was able to get rid of her husband. She
had by then two children.

On her own, she supported her kids and herself working on the property, receiving food
in exchange for her work. In 1930 she participated actively in the creation of the first
indigenous organizations of her country and took part in twenty six marches to the
capital, Quito, to demand justice for her people. Quito was 66 kilometres from her home
and Tránsito did this carrying her two kids.

She took part in the foundation of the first agricultural unions and in the first
agricultural workers’ strike in Olmedo. The strike lasted three months when some of the
workers returned to work. The leaders continued their strike but the property owners
called in the military and they came to destroy their homes and detain them. Tránsito
managed to escape and for the following fifteen months lived in hiding.

In 1944 she was one of the founders of the Ecuadorian Federation of Indigenous
Peoples (FEI), and in the mid fifties she collaborated in the creation of the Federation of
Agricultural Workers of the Coast (FETAL). Once the unions were established she
fought to set up bilingual schools for children, that would offer instruction in Quechua
and Spanish. Amongst her people she was respected and admired but she was constantly
getting threats from the authorities.

She later joined the Communist Party and in 1961 travelled to Cuba and later to the
Soviet Union in representation of the indigenous people of Ecuador. When she returned
home in 1963 she was detained and accused of trafficking with Soviet weapons and of
being sponsored by the Bolsheviks to incite the revolution in her country. Of course she
had no money nor weapons but did have instructions to promote land reforms. She was
released after four months, after signing a statement that she would not continue
“agitating” her people.

Once back in her home, she continued her work and got involved with setting up
cooperatives. She had a new partner who died in an accident and since she wasn’t the
owner of her piece of land she could not inherit it. Also, since she no longer worked at
the property she was left homeless.

In the late eighties the government gave her a pension for life and she settled herself in
the area, where she lived with her daughter in law and her grandson. She lived in a tiny
house, almost forgotten by the new generations. Let’s hope that her example does not
fade with her passing away. She almost lived a hundred years, and dedicated all her life
to improve the conditions of her people. A whole century of struggle that should not go
unnoticed.

Publicado en Green Left Australia, Mayo de 2009