Juanita Rodriguez Castillo

A Colombian abolitionist who led anti-slavery campaigns in the Andes mountains

Juanita Rodriguez Castillo (1844–1912) was a indigenous rights activist who liberated over 2,000 enslaved people in Colombia's coffee plantations during the 1870s. Born into the Quimbaya indigenous community, she organized clandestine networks to guide escaped slaves through the Andes to free zones. Her 1883 manifesto Freedom for the Children of the Mountains pressured the Colombian government to pass the 1886 Abolition Act. She later founded the Freedom Valley Settlement, a self-sustaining community for emancipated individuals. Modern scholars like Historical Journal of Andean Studies credit her with inspiring regional civil rights movements. Her story is preserved in oral histories collected by the Quimbaya Cultural Museum.