05/18/2020. There is not known in the world, a historical account of a more savage incident, where the highest representative of the Original Peoples was dismembered.
The murder of José Gabriel Condor Canqui — Tupac Amaru. Condor Canqui spearheaded the largest indigenous and independence movement in the times of the Viceroyalty under the Crown of Spain. He was the first to request the freedom of all Latin America from any dependency, both from Spain and its monarch — striving not just for mere political separation but for the elimination of various forms of indigenous exploitation (mita mining, distribution of goods, works) of the townships, alcabalas and customs (November 14, 1780). In addition, he decreed the abolition of black slavery for the first time in Latin America itself (November 16, 1780). His movement was a “watershed”, On May 18, 1781, Tupac Amaru II was executed. He had been sentenced by the Spanish conquerors to death by hanging. Before executing him, they forced him to watch as they cut off the tongues and heads of his friends, his wife Micaela Bastidas, and later two of his children.
As related by Baltasar de Ocampo and Fray Gabriel de Oviedo, of the Dominicans in Cuzco, both eyewitnesses, the Inca raised his hand to silence the crowds that had gathered in the Plaza de Armas de Cuzco to witness his execution, and his last words were: “Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta” (Mother Earth, testifies how my enemies spill my blood).
After he saw them torture his loved ones, the soldiers cut their tongues (for having spoken against the king …) and tied the limbs of the famous Inca chief to four horses in order to dismember him alive. This atrocious effort could not be fully carried out, so they decided to decapitate him, stick his head in a spear, tear him apart and send his four members to four different cities: Tungusaca, Carabaya, Livitaca and Santa Rosa.
Then the body was carried under the gallows, where his arms and feet were taken off. A large number of people were in attendance on this day…. Although previously there had been dry, serene weather, on that day, in the skies it appeared as if it would rain. And at 12 o’clock, when the horses were stretching the Indian, a strong wind arose, and after then there was a downpour, which caused all the people, and even the guards, to retreat in a hurry. This has caused the Indians to say, that the sky and the elements felt the death of the Inca, that the inhuman and impious Spaniards were killing with so much cruelty. …
His death was not in vain, since the causes that motivated his revolution were considered to have effected changes in the political / administrative system…. In addition, the Cusco Hearing was created, where cases of abuse against indigenous people were aired.
Despite the execution of Túpac Amaru and his family, the Spanish were unable to quell the rebellion, which was led by his half-brother Diego Cristóbal Túpac Amaru, as it spread throughout the Bolivian highlands, the Jujuy region and in the Argentine Northwest.
Tupac Amaru II rebelled in colonial Peru against the colonial oppression and tyranny of the invaders from Spain — a rebellion that ended with the genocide of 100,000 indigenous people.
Source: Pepa González Bonora for LaReserva.com
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22nd May 2020
Finca Solana
Corozal Town