Panting, the men hug their
arms and fix their gaze on the royal banners. The drums roll and the battalions
march forward. They walk, and then run, in a frontal charge, racing down the
slopes of Condorkuna Mountain.
Before them, lies a country’s
destiny.
***
Every December 9th
large numbers of Peruvians remember the battle of Ayacucho. Some of us were
taught that this was the fight that broke the Spanish Crown’s dominion forever,
and sealed the independent fate of the South American colonies. It was a
victory that, according to what was then promised, would take us to a paradise
of independent and republican life.
But, since we still haven’t
reached that point, let’s chat.
If history is studied
closely, in an objective manner, the Viceroyalty of Peru does not fold before
the wrath of an oppressed people. During the 200 years that followed the execution
of Tupac Amaru I, Peru enjoyed a time of relative internal peace during which
the native aristocracy, the arts, and national industry, all flourished, and this
was a time in which we also reached our greatest territorial extent, ever. All throughout
the XVII and XVIII centuries a society, a culture, and a people, which would be
distinctively recognized as Peruvian today, are created.
One of the aberrations created during the Dark Ages in Peru
The reasons and the motives
behind Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui’s seditious attempt against the royal
authorities, is the topic of another day. Suffice it to say that, whichever way
one looks at it, Tupac Amaru II was either a loyalist, publically declaring his
loyalty to Charles III, or was a monarchist, proclaiming himself Inca. It seems
that this Libertador wasn’t told that
Peru was to be a republic, one way or another.
Not only was our country the
center of resistance against the republican forces that marched from the north
and from the south, but even, during a glorious instant, it as Peruvians (creoles,
Indians, mestizos) who marched victorious into La Paz, Quito, and Santiago,
under the Cross of Burgundy. The Viceroys, isolated from reinforcements from
the Mother Country, create armies out of thin air, made up of European and
creole officers who lead troops native to the Audiencias of Cusco and Lima.
And when the war finally reaches
Peru, it becomes a quagmire with victories and defeats going to both sides.
Independence is proclaimed in Lima in 1821, but the royalists retake the city in
1823. Towns all across southern and central Peru remain loyal until taken by
the rebels, when they suddenly “see the light.” Still, the first coup d’état that same year, an ominous and prophetic
event foretelling the glorious future of the republic, should have warned the Peruvian
people and motivated them to close ranks behind the Viceroy’s determined opposition.
But no, “liberty,” “independence,” and the “republic” (a system of government utterly
alien to all Peruvians) were our goals and which not even God himself had any
right to deny us.
Thus, on December 9th,
1824, hordes of Colombians, Chileans, Rioplatenses, and 1,500 Peruvian traitors
fought against a decimated band of Peninsulares and 5,000 Peruvians loyal to
their King, their kurakas, and their
faith.
The adverse outcome of that
battle reverberates to this day across our lives.
