Biography

Rosa Elena Tránsito Amaguaña  her fight

Was born on August 10, 1909 in the town of Pasillo, Pichincha. His father was the indigenous huasipungueros Venancio Amaguaña and Mercedes Alba. He grew up in a farm in Cayambe, at 7 years of age he began to work, his studies were carried out in a local school for a short time where he only learned to read and write.

Mercedes Alba, mother of Tránsito, was the leader of the indigenous movement, a path her daughter would follow years later. Tránsito Amaguaña was married at 14 years of age and had four children, after a few years she separated from her husband who was an alcoholic and mistreated her.

He began to carry out community activism in organizations related to the Ecuadorian Socialist Party and then participated in indigenous marches, the most important one in Quito in 1930, where land and labor rights were claimed.

He joined the Communist Party of Ecuador where he fought to implement a cooperative system in the countryside. He founded the Ecuadorian Federation of Indio in 1946 together with other peasant leaders. In 1950, I promoted the foundation of bilingual schools, in Spanish and Quechua, together with Dolores Cacuango.