A fundamental character in the history of Peru was born on a day like today, 276 years ago. This is José Gabriel Condorcanqui, who after developing a fortune as a merchant and curaca, became the indigenous revolutionary who most affected the conquerors at the end of the 18th century. His historical figure, who became immortal due to the terrible death he met As a result of his libertarian desires, he has even transcended the indiscriminate use given to him by criminal groups that tried to endorse his negative actions by taking his name. The truth is that Túpac Amaru II -so called because he took the name of the last Inca- developed an intense work at the dawn of the independence of Peru and should be remembered in those terms. Here we tell the story of him:
The importance of José Gabriel Condorcanqui for the construction of a Peruvian national identity in times of colonial oppression was fundamental. Túpac Amaru II, in reality, would not have had the need to confront the Spanish Crown, much less to have an end as tragic as the one he had, because his life passed without deprivation, also occupying a high position within the society of that then because of his noble origin.
This caudillo, whose deep conviction led him to organize the largest insurrection in the territories of South America belonging to the Kingdom of Spain in the 18th century, was a man of money who devoted himself to trade, an activity that allowed him to live prosperously.
The turn of the attitude and behavior of this curaca or native chief towards a posture of open rebellion and insubordination, was taking shape through the years. There was no reason to expect that Túpac Amaru II, a mestizo who had been trained under Creole traditions at the San Francisco de Borja school, would eventually urge the original population of Peru to rebel, fight and try to expel the occupying forces from Spanish power.
The flourishing economic activity carried out by José Gabriel Condorcanqui would be the starting point of a series of disagreements that would occur between him and the then governing authorities imposed by the King of Spain. The transport of minerals with which Tupac Amaru traded was subject to high rent payments, a situation that made the caudillo's business difficult. The muleteers of the Río de la Plata basin region were not going to hand over the monopoly of the circulation of minerals in Upper Peru so easily, so they put pressure on Condorcanqui before the authorities, demanding an increase in the payment for customs duties.
The native chief or curaca of Surimana, Tungasuca, and Pampamarca tried to solve these problems by submitting them to the discretion of the viceroyalty authorities, but they turned a deaf ear to all the requests of the future leader of the uprising indigenous. In addition to this unjust situation, Túpac Amaru II felt rejection for the conditions in which the indigenous people worked in the mines and he also knew how to make his claims known to the rulers.
The sum of all these situations finally originates the uprising headed and directed by José Gabriel Condorcanqui in November 1780. Initially, the intentions of the revolutionary movement were not to fight against the Spanish Crown to expel it from the national territory, but before the radicalization of the positions of both parties, the objective of the uprising would change. The new revolutionary slogan called for an overthrow of the Spanish forces and their consequent expulsion.
Within the forces that rose up in 1780, there were members of different ethnic groups that lived in Peru (indigenous, Creole, black) from back then and who also felt fully identified with the demands of the insurgent leader. The revolutionary forces came to have tens of thousands of men in their ranks, an extremely disturbing and worrying situation for the viceregal authorities. After five months of intense fighting, José Gabriel Condorcanqui is finally captured and tortured in order to obtain information about the forces that he had been in charge of forming and organizing.
It is well known that no information could be obtained from Túpac Amaru II, because he had an iron will to fight and an unbreakable warrior spirit. Shortly after his capture, José Gabriel Condorcanqui was executed in one of the most barbaric and savage acts carried out by the Spanish during their occupation of Peru. Túpac Amaru II was forced to witness the death of his entire family (uncle, two children and wife) as a punishment for the uprising he had provoked.
Then an attempt was made to dismember him in an act of frank sadism carried out in the Plaza de Armas of Cuzco and in front of the local population. Unable to carry out such a terrible sentence, the beheading was ordered that finally ended the life of this benchmark of Peruvian indigenous culture.
What his executors did not know at the time of his death, is that figures such as Tupac Amaru II cannot be killed because the conviction that accompanies each of their actions is imperishable. The fight that Túpac Amaru II could not end was continued by his cousin, Diego Cristóbal Túpac, and spread to the territories of the Jujuy region in the current Republic of Argentina. Finally, the indigenous armed insubordination was quelled by the occupying forces, but the movement was born that would lead to the independence of the countries of the viceroyalty in the South American continent thirty years later.