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Manuela S\xe1enz was an Ecuadorian revolutionary who for many years was most famous for her role as the lover of Sim\xf3n Bol\xedvar - the Venezuelan military leader who secured independence from Spain for a number of countries in South America between 1819-1830. S\xe1enz left her British husband for Bol\xedvar, or 'The Liberator' as he was known, and famously saved the leader from an assassination attempt, earning her the name 'Libertadora'. But S\xe1enz was a political force in her own right, receiving various honours for her work for the revolutionary cause. She continued her involvement in politics right to the end of her life while exiled in Peru, acting as a spy and creating a network of informants.

As many countries in what used to be known as 'Gran Colombia' celebrate 200 years of independence from Spain, Bridget Kendall speaks to three experts about Manuela S\xe1enz's key role in the independence struggle: Pamela Murray, professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and author of the biography For Glory and Bol\xedvar: The Remarkable Life of Manuela S\xe1enz; Matthew Brown, professor in Latin American history at the University of Bristol, UK; and Marcela Echeverri, associate professor at Yale University's Department of History in the United States.

(Photo: Portrait of Manuela S\xe1enz in 1825 by Pedro Durante. Credit: Museo Nacional de Arqueolog\xeda, Antropolog\xeda e Historia del Per\xfa)