The Revolutionary Traditions of the Andes Part I: Tupaq Jacobins

The birth of the modern Andean revolutionary tradition begins with the synthesis of French Revolutionary principles into the cosmovision of Tawantinsuyu.

Edict for the Province of Chichas [23 December 1780]
By Túpac Amaru II

The Peruvian independence leader José Gabriel Túpac Amaru II’s elaboration of his project for a new republic.¹

Diego José Gabriel Tupac-Amaru, the Indian of royal blood, and of the main [Inka] lineage:

"I make known to the Creole countrymen, inhabitants of the province of Chichas and its surroundings, that seeing the strong yoke of such prideful oppression and the tyranny over those who bear this burden, neither of which take our misfortunes into consideration, and exasperated by them and their impiety, I have determined to tear off this unbearable yoke and curb the bad government [mal gobierno] that we experience from the authorities that make up these bodies: for this reason many have died on the corregidor’s public scaffold in this province of Tinta, with a portion of newly arrived Spaniards, to whose defense they came from the city of Cuzco, dragging my beloved Creoles, who paid with their lives for their audacity and daring. I only feel for the Creole countrymen, to those who have been my encouragement not to follow any prejudice, but for us to live together as brothers, and who have gathered themselves into one body, destroying the Europeans. All of which is looked upon with the most mature agreement, and the claim of which is not in the slightest opposed to our sacred Catholic religion, but only aims to suppress so much disorder, after here having taken those measures that have been conducive to the refuge, protection and conservation of the Creole Spaniards, of the mestizos, zambos and Indians, and their tranquility, because they are all countrymen and compatriots, as ones born in our lands, and of the same natural origin, and having all equally suffered from such oppressions and tyrannies by the Europeans,

“It has been seen fit to let the said Creole countrymen know that if they opt for this decree, they will not be harmed either in lives or in estates; but if, disregarding this my warning and doing the opposite, they will experience their ruin, transforming my meekness into an anger and a fury which will reduce this province to ashes; and as I have known how to say it, I have weighty forces, and at my disposal all of these regional provinces, in union between Creoles and Natives, apart from these the other provinces that are also at my orders, and so do not underestimate this warning of mine, which is born of my love and clemency, which tends to the common good of our kingdom, because its end is to take all the Spanish and natural countrymen out of the unjust servitude that they have suffered.

“Considering at the same time as the main object that offenses to God Our Lord, whose ministers, the noble priests, will have the due appreciation and veneration for their estates, and likewise the religions and monasteries, whose same pious and upright intention I proceed with, I hope divine clemency for, as destined for her, for this effect will enlighten and govern me within a business in which I need all of its assistance for its happy success.

"And so that they may understand, copies of this edict will be posted in the places that they consider convenient in that province, where I will know those who follow this decree, rewarding the loyal, and punishing the rebels, so that you will know your advantage, and then you will not plead ignorance. That is all that I can tell you.”

Julián Apasa "Tupaq Katari"
By W. Jony Rodríguez Arizaca

The history and legacy of the Aymara leader and rebel contemporary to Túpac Amaru II.²

Until now, not even the best and most well-informed documentation³ regarding this martyr of Aymara history has been able to prove the place of his birth.

It was on March 13, 1781, that for the first time of colonial history that the name of “Tupaq Katari” found receptive ears in the Spaniards; as a result of an interception of the proclamation letters that had been discovered by the priest of Viacha; because, until then, only Túpac Amaru II stuck out, as if he was the sole author of the armed uprising.

Henceforth, his Spanish detractors; contemporaries to him—such as the brigadier Sebastián de Segurola and the priest Matías Borda⁴—following the systemic tendency of the Spanish historians and commentators of the indigenous uprisings of 1780-1781, would present Julián Apasa, as an ignorant, brutish, infamous, vicious, gloomy, ridiculous Indian, of uncertain family, constantly drunk, a womanizer, an illiterate and finally, a fierce, bloodthirsty man and an upstart who gave himself the name “Tupaq Katari.”

But who was this man really, the one who said: I will return and I will be millions? Where was his birth? Why did he start his struggle in the south of Puno? And what was his actual origin and ancestry? These are some of the questions that we would like to address in this article.

Anyways, how can one believe that an immoral person could easily put himself at the head of Indian society? Who would believe that a drunk could lead a war of such magnitude for its time? And could an illiterate have signed as Viceroy Tupaq Katari in his manifestos and political-military pronouncements?

Honestly, that is not possible from the Indigenous Aymara perspective and idiosyncrasy. There, leaders are elected from the grassroots. Now that they have been judged and sentenced with such qualifiers and ridicule, it is natural, then, that there was no greater colonial hatred than the one poured out in these lands against this man, in order to silence his fierce conduct as a warrior.

His name is Julián Apasa Nina, this martyr of Aymara history. A human individual endowed with a tenacious, capable and sagacious wisdom to direct the communal war for the ayllus in the era.

Many have concerned themselves with him and his Indian cause, it is enough just to mention the names of Daniel Valcárcel, Luis Durand Florez, Boleslao Lewin, Jorge Cornejo Boruoncle, Lillian Estele Fisher, Oscar Acevedo, Alipio Valencia, Oscar Cornblit, María Eugenia del Valle de Siles, Augusto Guzmán, Roberto Quila Luna, Marcelo Grondín, Felipe Quispe Huanca, Scarlett O'phelan Godoy, Ramiro Reynaga, Sinclair Thomson and many others. Of these, some are inclined to affirm that he was born in the current Canton of Ayo Ayo (Bolivia), others only speak from his childhood onwards; and, another handful of historians maintain that he was originally from Chucuito (Peru) as we will see later.

But before everything, these statements may sound somewhat ethnocentric and may make more than one reader, both Peruvian and Bolivian, laugh. But in the end, they are statements that are rigorously supported by the relevant documentation, and the bibliographic sources that we handle.

For the remainder, it is enough to bring up the lawsuit generated by chauvinist currents in an effort to seize as much existing highland heritage as happened with La Diablada, La Morenada and El Charango. Rather, this article serves only an illustrative purpose, since many people, especially children and schoolchildren, live oblivious to Indian history.

Therefore, here it is necessary to learn something about the life of the great “Tupaq Katari,” hero of the great Patria Collavina that, of course, constitutes a duty for all Indigenous.

Beginning the subject, his closest biographers, including the Bolivian Ramiro Reynaga (1989: 124), state that he was born in the Jayu Jayu population of the Chucuito territory. Similarly, Boleslao Lewin (1963) maintains that he was originally from that place, that is, from Chucuito. And, Felipe Quispe Huanca,⁵ also a Bolivian, adds that he was the son of Nicolás Apaza and Marcela Nina, both natives of Chucuito, and that they died when Julián Apaza was about 7 years old. Likewise, there would be no shortage of a Peruvian, the ill-fated Puno historian, Alfonso Torres Luna, who also claims that Julián Apaza was a native of Zepita (Puno).⁶

So, could it be that these historians have used other sources not known to us? Did Alfonso Torres Luna from Puno have access to other sources from his time, as the archivist that he was? Will there be any other historian who clarified this obscure biography of this caudillo and true strategist of the Indigenous army with a presence in Puno?

I'm sure there will be. To us, that search to find answers has simply made us stumble upon a variety of bibliographic information and some valuable files for the case, found in the archive of La Paz, Bolivia, whose summary I share in the following lines.

These are photocopied documents taken from the Archivo General de Indias-Sevilla, donated by Mrs. María Eugenia del Valle de Siles in 1991, from her works on the personal file of this rebel, the testimonies of his confessions and the sentence that was pronounced against him,⁷ and, from her we know that it is indeed the case that Julián Apasa was a foreigner Indian registered in the jurisdiction of the Jayu Jayu Canton of the present-day province of Sica Sica (La Paz, Bolivia).

Of his birth, we can corroborate nothing exactly because we lack the documents that prove the place of his birth. It is only known that his father and relatives had bilateral families in Jayu Jayu (Chucuito) and Jayu Jayu (Sica Sica), located on the roadside to Potosí.

The testimonies about his life indicate that the boy Julián could not have even gotten to know his parents well, because they had been exterminated in the mines of Potosí. Surely he came into the world at the time when his parents and grandparents were suffering extreme abuse, and this would be around 1750, according to calculations from 1781, the year in which this rebel was estimated to be 30 years of age.

Synthesizing the consulted file, three points could be opined:

1.)—That Julián was not born in Jayu Jayu (Bolivia) or simply did not want to declare his place of birth. And if it was the latter, why was no birth registration found in the jurisdiction when all along, his father and even he himself were in relations with the church and the priest? Where was Julián's Christian name put? How could he have contracted marriage with the mestiza Bartolina Sisa without these facts?

2.)—That Julián was from an uncertain place, as the documents of the time attest: an outsider Indian. In other words, he was not originally from that place, Ayo Ayo of the Paceña province of Bolivia, because the very term stranger says as much. The rumors that he had been a tributary of the ayllu Sullkawi are because some indication was found of him but he never paid his taxes, which is why his wife, Doña Bartolina Sisa, went to prison five consecutive times.⁸

3.)—Katari's uprising was not an improvisation. According to the statement of Bartolina Sisa, his wife, the laborious clandestine work of consciousness-raising, preparation and political-military organization took him ten years.⁹ For the same reason, during the war she took on several names such as Nina Katari.¹⁰

Felipe Quispe Huanca (2007) narrates that, “Tupaq Katari traveled through many of the communities and farms of Umasuyus, Larecaja, Chulumani, Pacajes, Puno, Chucuito, Santiago de Waychu, Qaqiawiri, Inquisivi and others, in order to enter closer relations with the important, main, and major mayors, kuracas, jilaqatas, communal bosses, and thus look for leaders who would have that combatant’s stuff. For this he had to look for a beautiful disguise, and the papers of a merchant, in order to avoid arousing the suspicions of the Spanish landowners.”

In truth, things probably happened like this, because the Ulaqa council¹¹ had conferred the peripheral region of Lake Titiqaqa and the foothills of Illimani and Illampu to Tupaq Katari¹² with the instructions that he command and take Puno, Sorata, Laja, Viacha, Jayu Jayu, Sica Sica, Chulumani, Achacahi, La Paz, etc. until reaching Azángaro.¹³

Surely Julián walked all these places and distances on foot; back and forth. As an Indian, he was forbidden to ride a horse. In addition, it is said that many times along the way he had to work for food and other times he went without any nourishment, in order to knit and fraternize with Indians from different regions. Therefore, his presence in Puno was because that preparation in advance was there.

In addition, according to the Indian historian known as ”el Mallku“ (2007: 41), ”before the capture of Puno, Nicolás Apaza (Julián's uncle) and Andrés Wara traveled to Puno and Chucuito carrying preparatory slogans."

In this way, when war was declared, all the peoples of the former Lupaca province of Chucuito rose up in adherence to the cause and swelled the ranks of the revolutionary army. The Indians of Collao Ilave, Acora and the entire altiplanic south joined Katari's troops (D. Llanque, 1990:33). "Apparently they only accepted orders from the aforementioned Túpac Catari... it was common to hear in those trances that the rebels proclaimed "From the King to Katari,” undoubtedly alluding to Túpac Catari... in Ilave it was very clear to that it was the proclamation of the king to Túpac Catari which had to cause justified grief" (J. J. Vega.2003).

In fact, the siege of Puno had begun from Desaguadero and they marched towards the lake city of San Carlos.

D. Llanque Chana, says: "Katari, counting on the support of the Ilaveños and Acoreños, razed Chucuito in May 1781. He then besieged the city of Puno on May 23 after Diego Tupaq Amaru had retreated."¹⁴

J. Alberto Cuentas also narrates that “the Indians of Ilave and Acora, when marching on Puno, totally burned down the city of Chucuito, where the largest number of Spaniards existed.”¹⁵

Enrique Cuentas Ormachea, in the Prologue to Alfonso Torres Luna's History of Puno (1968), describes the heroic resistance of the puneños under the command of Don Joaquín de Orellana when the population suffered the siege of the numerous Indigenous forces of Tupac Katari and other commanders.

The same corregidor of Puno Joaquín de Orellana recognizes him and says:

"Those of Chucuito, commanded by their belief in Catari are still at a distance of a quarter of a league from this town according to a passport that he issued in the capital of that province, will with the greatest boldness be going out some other day to provoke those of the cavalry, with whom they have ever worked their skirmishes. I have very much desired to punish the daring of these wicked people, and although I could well achieve it with a sudden assault, I have thought it advisable to reserve the very scarce supplies with which I find myself, in case of being attacked again within the village.”¹⁶

However, despite these sources, there are those who believe and maintain that Tupaq Katari was not in person in the revolts of today's southern provinces of Puno and in the successive takeovers of the city of Puno; it is believed that, at that time he would be directing the siege of La Paz and that in one of his statements in court he would have said so.

Naturally, Katari learned that the armed struggle held mimetic ways to deceive the enemy, and had to deny everything, so as not to involve the other commanders. It is no coincidence that many of the generals of the Aymara army act under the pseudonym Katari.

Some records from colonial sources indicate for example that Andrés Guara commanded the Indian troop “With the title of Catari,” the Acorean “Isidro Mamani attacked with the title of Viceroy of Túpac Catari” (Valcárcel, 1974:306), the same Pascual Alarapita, the name Tupaq Katari was superimposed, like Tupaj Nina Katari who led the rebels of Juli, there is also talk of another Puma Katari and, Juan Mamani Tupaj Katari, who had control of the roads to Arequipa in the towns of Mañazo; as well as the other rebel Viceroy of the Province of Chucuito who was called "Ariquitipa Tupac Catari Ynga" (Jan Szemiñski. 1983:74). The same was also done by the collateral relatives of José Gabriel Túpac Amaru, when, after his death, they continued to command the uprisings.

November 13, 1781 was the fateful date for Tupaq Katari. He suffered the atrocious fate of his predecessor, Túpac Amaru, victim of a deception and a cowardly betrayal by his collaborator Tomás Inca Lipe. He was handed over to the royalists in the community of Chinchaya.

Thus, in a brutal ceremony, carried out in the name of God and the King of Spain, before a massive congregation of stunned Indians from all over the surrounding region, he was sentenced to death. His body would be quartered, and his execution would be put into effect on November 15 of the same year, in the plaza of the community of Peñas (Cajamarca), also called today the shrine of Nuestra Señora de las Peñas, located in the highlands of the plurinational state of Bolivia.

The sentence was not carried without first subjecting him to a merciless torture; he was martyred in a worse way than the leader of the Jews named Christ. Because they wanted to take away the secrets of his political, military and religious organization by these means, they wanted to make him declare where he had hidden the treasures recovered from the Spanish hacendados and landowners.

Katari did not speak the truth, despite being reduced to the worst physical, mental and moral pressures in prison; he decided to die shattered and torn to pieces, but forever full of many secrets and military plans (Felipe Quispe Huanca, 2007: 112).

First they cut off his long hair, which symbolized Julián’s energy and rebelliousness, then they pulled out his nails, proceeded to cut out his tongue, which symbolized silencing his voice and message of rebellion; then, they proceeded to torture and destroy his still-living copper-colored body by the force of four horses tied to his four limbs.

But, before her tongue was cut out, he said: "They will kill only me, but, I will return and I will be millions!”

According to the chronicles, at that moment the four horses tore Julián Apasa's body to pieces in the direction of the four cardinal directions. The anguished cry of the crowd responded helplessly to that first scream.

His body, torn into pieces and divided by his limbs, was exposed throughout the territory of the Qullasuyu as a sign of warning to the rebellious Indians. His head was exposed in the hill of K'ili K'ili (La Paz), his right arm in Ayo Ayo, the left in Achacachi; his right leg in Chulumani, and the left in Caquiaviri.

Later, his wife Bartolina Sisa endured the same fate on September 5, 1782, also dying with grisly details of torment, strangled by the same executioners who ended the life of her life partner. The same happened with his sister Gregoria Apasa; and along with them a ten-year-old son of Tupaq Katari and Bartolina Sisa was apprehended and was never heard from again.

Over time, in Peru, posterity has not always been able please itself with this hero of such great stature. In total he is an Indian personality, for sure. Hopefully, one day, another generation with an Aymara identity will make a just tribute.

Instead, it is in the Bolivian part that there is a confessed identity with him and therefore a diversity of institutions, from a university to a telecommunications satellite ship that bears the name of Tupaq Katari and that was launched from the Asian continent to the other side of the world.

In the Puno Region, it seems that it is only used by masses of strikers and politicians who remember the name of Tupaq Katari to harangue and cheer on their mobilizations.

Only a single school is known to bear the name of Katari, there in the village of Villa de Socca in the district of Acora. The others bearing it are one or another organization of peasants who identify with this incorruptible Aymara leader. Although, in recent times, a politico-cultural organization has been brewing that bears the name of Katarist Movement [Movimiento Katarista] of Peru.

Speech to the Cortes of Cádiz [16 December 1810]
By Dionisio Inka Yupanqui

A speech in defense of the Natives of América and the original source for the famous mantra: “A people who oppresses another people cannot be free.”¹⁷

Mr. Inka then asked for the floor, and read the following paper:

“Sir, Deputy substitute for the viceregency of Peru, I have not come to be one of the individuals who make up this moral body of His Majesty to flatter you, to consummate the ruin of glorious and troubled Spain, nor to sanction the slavery of virtuous América, I have come, yes, to tell His Majesty, with the respect I owe and with the decorum that I profess, the most bitter and terrible truths that His Majesty dismisses; consoling and full of health, if he appreciates them and if he exercises them for the benefit of his people. I will not, Sir, display or flaunt my conscience; but I will say that reprobating those arbitrary principles of high and low politics, employed by despotism, I only follow those recommended by the Gospel of His Majesty and that I profess. I promise myself, based on the principles of equity that you have adopted, that you will not want to make your own this very serious sin of the notorious and ancient injustice into which all previous Governments have fallen: a sin that in my opinion is the first or perhaps the only cause for which the powerful hand of an irritated God weighs so heavily on this very noble people, worthy of better fortune. The Lord, whose divine justice protects the humble. I dare to assure His Majesty that without being enlightened by the spirit of God he will not succeed in taking a safe step towards the freedom of the Fatherland until he occupies himself with all care and diligence in fulfilling his obligations to the Americas: His Majesty does not know them. Most of his members and the Nation have hardly heard from that vast continent. The previous Governments have considered it little, and have only tried to ensure the remittances of this precious metal, the origin of so much inhumanity, which they have not been able to take advantage of. They have abandoned it to the care of greedy and immoral men; and the absolute indifference with which they have regarded their most sacred relations with this country of delights has reached the limit of the patience of the Father of mercies and forces him to pour out part of the bitterness with which those natural ones feed on our European provinces. There is barely time left to wake up from lethargy and to abandon mistakes and worries, the daughters of pride and vanity. Your Majesty, hurriedly shake off the aged and odious routines, and perceive well that our present calamities are the result of such a long epoch of crimes and prostitution, do not throw from your sight the luminous torch of wisdom, nor deprive yourself of the exercise of virtues. A people who oppresses another people cannot be free. His Majesty touches this terrible truth with his hands. Napoleon [Bonaparte], the tyrant over Europe, his slave, wants to mark generous Spain with this seal. She, who courageously resists him, does not notice the finger of the Most High, nor does she know that she is being punished with the same penalty that she has made her innocent brothers suffer for three centuries. As an Inka, Indian and American, I offer for your consideration an extremely instructive picture. Deign to make a comparative application of it, and you will draw very wise and important consequences. Sir, will Your Majesty resist such imperious truths? Will you be insensitive to the anxieties of their European and American subjects? Will Your Majesty close your eyes to such bright lights, the way that heaven still shows you for your salvation? No, it will not happen that way; I expect His Majesty to be full of consolation in religious principles in the enlightened policy with which he tries to set out and ensure his sovereign deliberations.”

After reading this paper, he presented a formula of decree reduced to mandating the viceroys and presidents of the Audiencias of América to scrupulously protect the Indians, and take care that they are not disturbed or afflicted in their persons and properties, nor is their personal freedom, privileges, etc. harmed in any way.

Everything was heard with applause, and at the time of voting he said

Mr. [José de] Espiga: I find the sir preopinante's proposal very laudable, but I find it too general. It should be individualized by articles, and accompanied by an instruction that was put into discussion.

The President and Vice-President said that this would be the result of the discussion, to which this proposal was admitted by unanimous votes.

Mr. [Joaquín Lorenzo] Villanueva said: I think that the proposal should not be discussed, but approved by acclamation, being nothing more than an excerpt from the legislation of the Indies in this part.

Mr. [Agustín] Argüelles: I admire, he said, the philanthropic zeal of Mr. Inka; but I am of opinion that according to the Regulations the discussion should be left for another day, because perhaps Mr. Inka will agree with me that some expression can be varied or modified.

With this the session ended.

Funeral Oration for Túpac Amaru II [1816]
By Melchor Equazinl

A speech delivered in commemoration of the slain José Gabriel Túpac Amaru II. Equazinl sets out a revolutionary political vision for the 19th century, deeply inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the French Revolution.¹⁸

“Justitia perpetua est, et immortalis [Justice is perpetual and immortal].”

—Sapientia, Volume 15, Chapter 1.

The worthy Patriot who had revived our dying hopes is no more.— These subjugated, oppressed regions remained in a sad silence before their tyrants; he dared to proclaim the truths that they detest, he faced the ungodly oppressors... Injustice will always triumph! Fortune will always bestow itself on the crimes of men! What has been the success of an enterprise inspired by virtue and by the most sublime and purest feelings; that has desired humanity; but that has cost us so many tears?—His tongue was cut off, his body torn to pieces, his corpse reduced to ashes. A horrible execution of barbaric atrocity! Did you doubt, nations, the truth of this story that recounts the fierce deeds of the oppressors of América? See it told anew. The vile sycophant and despicable legist in their execrable sentence gives the King of Spain the title of the adorable, they tried to give the plea as much intensity and extension as possible. Before the unfortunate caudillo died, he, with great spirit, with magnanimous fortitude, saw the cruel death of the people that he loved in this world. His constancy was sustained by the testimony of his good conscience, by the legitimacy of the cause, and truth of the rights he had defended, and by the firm belief that there exists a Supreme Judge, and an invariable and eternal justice. Justitia perpetua est, et immortalis [Justice is perpetual and immortal]. In the midst of the bitter sorrows he stirred up the sweet hopes of the fatherland in his mind, of its independence and future aggrandizement: and these sweet hopes are full of immortality. The sacrosanct dogma of freedom, the social principles, the liberal ideas, announced in these countries, must not be wrapped up again in the deep night, to which so many disastrous concerns will retract the progress of enlightenment into. The truth will triumph: the justice of our cause, which is that of all peoples, will be known: the yoke of oppression will be broken: a new power shall appear in the world so famous for the prudence of its so-called treasures. A promising outlook! A beautiful argument from the gloomy discourse that our sad circumstances demand. Such is the best gift that we can render to the venerable memory of the very high and very powerful Prince José Gabriel Túpac Amaru, Inka, descendant from the royal blood of the kings of Peru.

Alas! My chest tightens, my words suffocate with sobs, a cloud of sadness covers my spirit. But it is necessary to give strength, encouragement and and comfort to these afflicted ones. The dogma of immortal justice must dispel our faintness. "The wicked man is indefatigable in crime, and the righteous man is discouraged by the first obstacle he encounters in doing good! If the one who loves his fellow men is discouraged, at what will the nations stop?”— But who does not feel diminished, who does not grieve for the past? Well: well we will anticipate the times that are to come; let us open this with the virtue of the magnificent scene of the amazing century that is to be born, so that, revived with new ardor at the sight of the object one desires, one may redouble the efforts with which one is to attain it.

Part One

If only my fragile memory could remember the principles and sentences of José Gabriel, poured out in conversations so sweet and so friendly, when as lonely lovers of freedom we walked in these laughing enclosures in another time, discussing the rights and the interests of the homeland! Until that time, I could only write dark and miserable stories, and in the ridiculous writings of the worried, are there not gloomy and deluded spirits? The hand of the Supreme Being wrote them on our hearts; this is the law of nature. If we are men, we must be free, for has heaven not set everyone free from the heaven that authorizes them to command their fellow men? Who is born with anything distinguishing that declares that it is the will of the Most High for them to exercise sovereignty over others as poor and weak as they are? What they have called the right of conquest is in substance the right of the strongest, and this is the right of the great thieves and wild beasts. And yet of these truths as clear and palpable as the propositions of geometry, it is often repeated in a dogmatic tone that the King of Spain is our legitimate and true lord, the one who is appointed by God himself to come to us as the Sovereign. Impious impudence! A race of iniquity and falsehood! Is it the invasion, the robberies, the violence, the deaths that constituted the legitimate and true King of Spain our lord? And why don't you show the documents stating that He is appointed by God Himself to come to us as a Sovereign? Generation of darkness! In the age of enlightenment are you not ashamed to use even the language of imposture? So many luminous works have discovered the fallacy and absurdity of these baneful doctrines; and you still proclaim them as if we still lived wandering in the forests. The historical monuments of the Spanish monarchy and the subjugation of América are too common and public for us to want to pass off that government as theocratic, or immediately emanated from heaven. Nor are we still in the times of barbarism, and the mass of light diffused on earth is already too great for us to entertain old and puerile tales. Everyone already agrees that men, who were born equal and free by nature, cannot be legitimately commanded except by virtue of an explicit or implicit pact: and such is the origin of legitimate governments. I am the leader of these peoples not because I am a descendant of the Inkas, but because they want it that way: I understand it that way, whatever the reasons that influence their mood. The founder of the empire of the Inkas was like other astute and skillful legislators, who pretended to have an immediate communication and relationship with heaven, taking advantage of the superiority of their talents over docile and gullible ignorance. But I gladly abandon the sad advantage of founding one’s rights on impostures to others. The peoples are free, and can therefore choose the form of government most suited to their circumstances, to their cautions, education, and needs. On this point, how much I fear the influence of ardent imagination, of exaggerated principles, of hasty inexperience, and of the frenzy of interests and passions! It means more that the people are free. Heaven grant them prudence! Let its goodness deign to direct their choice, difficult and thorny both with regard to the governmental form, and in relation to the great magistrate to whom the Supreme command is permanently entrusted.

Compare, my dear friends, the liberality of these principles with the tyrannical, brutal, and improbable maxims of such principles, which has dragged the proclaimer of the rights of the human species to an ignominious death! He suffered it with resignation because he resolved to die or win from the moment he raised his head among the oppressed. His great soul was not capable of looking with indifference on the degradation, the miseries, the oppressions of his compatriots. He said to me one day: Are we men or are we brutes? Intelligence and feeling declare us men: why are we not free like others? Are we citizens or are we foreigners? If we are citizens, why don't we enjoy the same privileges as others? Why are we an abject, humiliated, despised race? If we are foreigners, may we enjoy the gifts of nature in peace from the oppressor, and may we not rule by our laws? So tell us at once that if we are oppressed it is because our elders were subjugated, because the invaders were stronger; and that the captivity to which they were subjected must be transmitted from generation to generation. And see here how unjust men are, whatever the progress of enlightenment. See how they impose silence on the clamor of conscience and humanity, on everything that makes them aware. Disgracefully, the authorities sanction these injustices. But there is no kind of violence that does not find support in authority. For centuries the ideas of justice and the morality of peoples have been depraved. Almost all ancient philosophers and politicians, including Aristotle and Plato, taught as a dogma that men are born unequal, and that nature has bred some to be free, and others to be slaves. The right of the strongest was the right of the people of the ancients: we see this clearly in the history of Rome and Greece. From this the political disorders and the public crimes of the nations have been derived. And because the stronger one let the weaker one live, it took an abusive right of property over their person and offspring, and the slavery of individuals prepared the slavery of nations. Can you not understand how a single man could enslave millions of men; how he could rule them with a bronze scepter from a very long distance; how he condemned an entire race to disgrace without the others being scandalized or murmuring at the oppression of their fellow men? Well, you must have noticed that a spirit of selfishness and usurpation had spread among everyone. In fact, we find slavery in use among all the ancient peoples. The moderns imitated and sanctioned their laws with the infamous traffic of human flesh, which sold and bought men as if they were brutes. The frequent examples of this barbarism made us look at serfdom as a natural and legitimate thing. Hearts were closed to compassion, and spirits to the feeling of justice. Thus the corruption and depravity of social morality was fully established.—The so-called rights of the conqueror naturally extended to the entire conquering nation; it oppressed, and enriched itself with the spoils, with the sweat and blood of the unhappy conquered. And the descendants of the conquerors becoming very numerous; inhabiting opulent countries, distant from the metropolis; distrusting of those away from it; they were considered as a distinct nation, they did not enjoy an equality of prerogatives with the ultramarinos; a mysterious behavior was used towards them; precautionary measures were adopted, which naturally had to be oppressive; and the colonial plan was established.—And having prodigiously advanced the art of maintaining them in servitude and of oppressing them, they put chains on thought, and the word. Consequently, the peoples became brutalized; they lost their energy; they became insensitive to the excesses of despotism; ignorance increased, the country was enveloped in a general darkness.

And will these shadows be eternal? Will the feeling of their dignity ever revive in human breasts? Will the crimes of nations and despots ever be punished? Yes, my friends. Men are going to show themselves to be tired of their silence and their martyrdoms. They should know and proclaim their rights, and defend them with magnanimous vigor. The fatherland has to sprout armies. The land will see the imposing scenes of the forgotten times renewed. New revolutions are going to shake up peoples and empires. Powerful thrones are going to be shaken, some will be undermined, others will appear again. New nations, new powers, new solids, new republics are going to appear in the theater of the world. Terrible catastrophes will remind men that the laws of nature, and the precepts of wisdom and truth, are not broken in vain.

Part Two

The sweet voice of independence resounds on the opulent banks of a great river; it is repeated by our mountains, and its echoes fill the depths of the valleys.—I can already hear the horrendous roar of the devastating cannon. In the world, a theater of crimes, justice must be upheld by force.—The people finally open their eyes, and are surprised that things are not what they should be. They know their rights; they proclaim freedom and the great century opens, a century of wonder for vulgar souls, of terror for tyrants, of emancipation for a whole world, and of hope for the whole earth. O singular people! Take your majestic flight of freedom and glory through the protected regions of the Most High. It breaks chains, dispels mistakes. Such is your august destiny. You are to be the example of humanity in future ages. Because who has ever taken up arms to make people happy? Yes, I will manage to see you blooming and free in profound peace! But my strength is declining, bitterness of all kinds has depressed my spirits, and perhaps I will soon join the shade of José Gabriel.—Will you say that my sensibility takes pleasure in soothing dreams? No, no, my sweet friends. I anticipate future events for you.—You see that all things cry out for a general reform. While the old opinions are gradually weakening, the scandalous disorders of the metropolis, the arbitrary providences, the oppressive precautions, etc., have already upset everyone's spirits. The repartimientos are more enormous than before, and are exacted with cruel extortions from the unhappiest families. The contempt of men, the forgetfulness of modesty, of public morals and of the laws have reached the extreme. Depravity has set aside all resources. Complaints have been useless. Thus, for many reasons, the seeds of a great revolution are germinating within hearts. It is only waiting for a favorable conjuncture, and it will come from Europe, the center of revolutions and where the ancient institutions are in manifest contradiction with the progress of enlightenment and civilization.—It has been a long time that nature has been working in its deafness to form the character of the magnanimous people who are to lead these countries into the pavilion of freedom. The cooperation of our Natives will not be methodical, but the most active, determined and obstinate.—You know that that people enjoys an excellent situation, which opens up the communication of intelligence, enlightenment and culture. But what is more... ancient abuses, vicious institutions, etc., how many obstacles! However, truth and reason must triumph one day.

My kind friends! Let us enjoy the fantasy of remote realities. In the midst of the fluctuating march of the future upheaval of these provinces, I see an immense revolution preparing in Europe. That part of the world, armed in the midst of a momentary peace, presents a terrible aptitude.—The maritime preponderance of one of its powers is seen with disgust there.—In the center of the north a colossal power rises, grows immensely, and is made more formidable by the powerful genius who knows and directs his forces.—Will the system conceived by an extraordinary head be adopted? Will the long-requested alliance make a nascent republic almost invulnerable? Will this create a great temple pavilion for the first time in the ocean, one which knows no storms?—

If the Kamchatka Peninsula will come to be of unexpected use, what does its geographical position indicate? More encouraging and consoling news is crowding to the center of resources.—In the midst of great events, the freedom of the fatherland must be fixed and sanctioned.—Then the name of Túpac Amaru, "a man endowed with a great character and full of probity and honor firm in his resolutions, fearless in dangers, capable of the high enterprise of liberating Peru from so much oppression and tyranny inn the end,” will be pronounced with reverence. And meanwhile, by Divine Mercy, his sublime soul sees in peace the beauty of the immortal hands’ miracle.

1. José Gabriel Túpac Amaru II, “Edicto para la Provincia de Chichas (December 23, 1780),” in Relación histórica de los sucesos de la Rebelión de José Gabriel Tupac-Amaru, en las provincias del Perú, el año de 1780, 1st ed. (Buenos Aires, Argentina: Imprenta del Estado, 1836), 48–49.

2. W. Jony Rodríguez Arizaca, “Julian Apasa ‘Tupaq Katari,’” Katari (blog), November 24, 2014,

https://www.katari.org/?p=1548.

3. Boleslao Lewin (1943 y 1963) y María Eugenia del Valle de Siles (1990).

4. Diario de los Sucesos del Cerco de La Paz, de Don Sebastián de Segurola. Editorial A. Franck, Paris, 1872. Págs. 10 y 216.

5. TUPAK KATARI. VIVE Y VUELVE, 2007, pág. 29.

6. “indio pobre y desconocido, natural de Puno, que de sacristán y peón de hacienda llegó a capitalizar los anhelos de libertad de los naturales, y, ayudado por otro indígena llamado Marcelo Calle adquirió una autoridad tan inmensa que puso a su devoción a Omasuyos y Chucuito y otras provincias, y que para alcanzar mayor respeto y devoción hacia su persona adoptó el nombre de Tupac Catari”. Puno Histórico, [1935?] (1968, pág. 233).

7. One can also consult the Archivo General de la Nación, Bolivia, Folios codificados con IX, 7-4-2.

8. Sinclair Thomson, 2010. Pág. 254.

9. Archivo General de las Indias. Buenos Aires 319, Cuaderno N° 4, Folio 59. Y también el Archivo de María Eugenia del Valle de Siles, donado al Archivo de La Paz, Bolivia.

10. Felipe Quispe Huanca (2007: 39).

11. War Council, formed by elders.

12. Ibídem: “En la región noroccidental tenía que hacer lo propio el Inka Tupac Amaru, tomar el Cusco. Y, lo mismo haría en la región sur-oriental el cacique Chayanteño Tomas Katari para rodear y tomar a Chuquisaca, que era asiento de la Real Audiencia de Charcas.”

13. Felipe Quispe Huanca (2007: 108)

14. “LA CULTURA AYMARA. DESESTRUCTURACION O REAFIRMACIÓN DE IDENTIDAD” 1990, pág. 33.

15. Álbum de Oro, Tomo I, pág. 106.

16. Relación de Joaquín de Orellana, de sus expediciones, sitios, defensa, y varios acaecimientos, hasta que despobló la villa de Puno. En: Relación histórica de los sucesos de la rebelión de José Gabriel Tupac-Amaru, en las provincias del Perú, el año de 1780, pág. 98.

17. Dionisio Inca Yupanqui, “Discurso de Dionisio Inca Yupanqui en las Cortes de Cádiz,” December 16, 1810, Archivo Digital del Congreso de los Diputados de España, https://www.congreso.es/docu/blog/0000103300000.pdf.

18. Melchor Equazinl, Oración Funebre de Tupac-Amaru (Buenos Aires, Argentina: Imprenta del Sol, 1816), https://repositoriodigital.bnp.gob.pe/bnp/recursos/2/flippingbook/4000003903/files/assets/basic-html/.