Fernando Daquilema

Fernando Daquilema Ruiz (Kera Ayllu, June 5, 1848-Yaruquíes, April 8, 1872) was an Ecuadorian indigenous leader, considered a hero for the struggle for the rights of his people.

[3] Payment of taxes and over-exploitation, made the inhabitants of the Cacha communities take revenge against a tithe man they considered arrogant and abusive.

[4] Fernando Daquilema gathered his people from the region and began to take some populated centers such as Yaruquiés and Cajabamba; but all of a sudden some indigenous people disbanded and then Daquilema orders to take Punín, which was under the control of the rebels led by Captain Manuela León, a native of the community of San Francisco de Macshi, today known as San Francisco de Asís.

[5] In December 1871, indigenous peoples’ outrage of the oppression they were going through, was high as the still existing collection of tithes reached its maximum.

Fernando Daquilema, a descendant of the Duchicelas, led the uprising in Cacha (today the first indigenous parish in Ecuador).