​FIRST COSTA RICA WOMAN CACIQUE OFFICIALLY APPOINTED

For the first time in the an​cestral indigenous lineage of the territory of Alto Comte Burica the official appointment of a woman Ngäbe-Buglè cacique took place.  This historic event occurred on the rainy afternoon of Saturday, April 23rd at the Progreso Community Center, located between the cantons of Corredores and Golfito in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica.
Idalia Andrade Degracia will now lead the cacique at the age of 36, continuing with her family's tradition and above all, validating her proven leadership capacity, as well as the legacy of her father, Don Miguel Andrade, the previous cacique, who passed away two years ago.
Her brothers agreed to support her decision and are confident in her abilities.  Besides being a Cacique, she is also an outstanding entrepreneur, a single mother of four children, a primary and secondary school teacher, as well as a teacher of the Ngabe-Bugle language (popularly known as Guaymi).
Now, as part of her appointment as a cacique, she must preserve the customs, the continuity of the language, gastronomy and the tradition for the new generations.  She must also fight for the rights and protection of her
people, in collaboration with the Association for the Integral Development of Alto Comte.  Her chieftainship had the approval and ratification of the majority of the National Council of Caciques and Indigenous Leaders of Costa Rica, modifying a patriarchal and traditional paradigm of the community and of the other five Ngäbe-Bugle settlements