Morales assassins: Bolivia gang "fought in Balkans"

[Jan Klimkowski]

I much like the last words of the last Inca in your sig line Jan.

Thanks, and it's highly appropriate for this thread.

Atahualpa, one of the two Inka Emperors when the Spanish arrived, was also a victim of the dogs of war and men of god.

Fearful of Atahualpa's power over the indigenous people of the Andes, the conquistador Pizarro staged a mock trial and sentenced Atahualpa to execution by burning. Atahualpa believed his soul could not travel to the afterlife if his body was burned. So a priest, who had been trying to persuade Atahualpa to convert, told the Inka Emperor that if he was baptized into the Catholic faith, the sentence would be commuted.

In such a way, Friar Vincente de Valverde, notorious for his Inka slaves, claimed the soul of "Juan Santos Atahualpa" for the Catholic Church.

In 1533, almost immediately after the baptism, the Inka Atahualpa was garotted.

Around 1540, after the first "Spanish Conquest", the Inka staged a second rebellion based around the religious centre of Vilcabamba. In 1572, the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, raised in the Inka religion, was eventually trapped with his pregnant wife by conquistadors. Tupac Amaru was assured that no harm would come to him if he and his party surrendered.

Instead, the captive Tupac Amaru was paraded through the sacred streets of Cuzco with a gold chain around his neck. The conquistadors also paraded the holy mallqui (mummies) of the Inka Emperors Manco Capac and Titu Cusi and a gold statue of Punchao, a representation of the Inkan lineage containing the mortal remains of the hearts of the deceased Inkas.

Tupac Amaru was baptized into Catholicism, then subjected to a mock trial.

An eyewitness report from the day recalls that Tupac Amaru was led through the streets of Cuzco between Father Alonso de Baranza and Father Molina, who instructed him for the benefit of his soul. Vega Laoiza has him riding a mule with hands tied behind his back and a rope around his neck. Gabriel Oviedo and Baltasar de Ocampo report great crowds and the Inca surrounded by 400 guards with lances. In front of the main cathedral in the central square of Cuzco a black-draped scaffold had been erected. The plaza was so densely crowded for the spectacle that the chief officer of the court rode down many people to clear a path. Reportedly 10,000 to 15,000 witnesses were present.

Tupac Amaru mounted the scaffold with Bishop Agustín de la Corunna. The "multitude of Indians, who completely filled the square, saw that lamentable spectacle [and knew] that their lord and Inca was to die, they deafened the skies, making them reverberate with their cries and wailing." (Murúa 271)

Another eyewitness, Juan Quispe Kuro, reports that Tupac Amaru's last request was that he be allowed to say good-bye to his young children, who ascended the gallows with dignity and hugged their father.

As reported by Baltasar de Ocampa and Friar Gabriel de Oviedo, Prior of the Dominicans at Cuzco, both eyewitnesses, the Incas last words were, "Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."

By one account Tupac Amaru placed his head on the block. The executioner took Tupac's hair in one hand and severed his head in a single blow. He raised his head in the air for the crowd to view. At the same time all the bells of the many churches and monasteries of the city were rung. A great sorrow and tears were brought to all the native peoples present.

The military leader of the Incan army, Wallpa Yupanki was also decapitated, two generals were hung and the hands of three other resistors were chopped off, according to Guillon's recounting. Toledo also ordered the burning of the mummies of the Incas.

Baltasar Ocampo reports that Tupac Amaru's severed head was impaled on a lance near the gallows.

The Inka were faced with "a new kind of human being who waged war à outrance, inspired by a terrifying religion which enabled them to use treachery, hypocrisy, cruelty, torture, and massacre in the name of a God of Love" (Hyams & Ordish).

Ultimately, the people of the Andes from Ecuador to Bolivia decided to pretend to obey the foreigners, the men of god and the dogs of war, the landlords and mineowners who worked them to death. They decided to wait them out, preserving their indigenous culture in secret places.

Four and a half centuries later, the enemy and the war has not changed.

"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."