Hijos
del Altísimo (Children of the Most High) - http://www.altisimo.net -
We all carry our past within ourselves. This is true of an individual person, but also of a nation as a whole. Although the circumstances have changed over time, the "soul" of Peru remains the same as it was centuries ago. Therefore we begin this study with a journey to the past, to the "childhood" of this nation.
The Inca government was probably the most just government Peru
has ever had. According to the ancient chroniclers, the Incas had
a very advanced system of social assistance, and there was
practically no crime. (Although the truth is that crime was
restricted by means of a dictatorial system with harsh punishment
even for minor transgressions.) Their ethics was resumed in their
traditional greeting: "Ama sua, ama llulla, ama qella"
(Do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy).
Garcilaso de la Vega describes the Incas as great educators and
bringers of civilization:
"While he populated the city, our Inca taught the male Indians the tasks pertaining to their gender, such as ploughing the earth and sowing those vegetables which are beneficial to eat (...) , and how to make irrigation channels, and how to make shoes. The queen taught the female Indians ... how to spin and weave and make their own clothes ..."
(Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, "Comentarios reales", 1609-1613)
According to Garcilaso, the Incas founded their task of bringing civilzation upon a myth, saying that the sun god had given them this commandment:
"Our father, the sun, had mercy upon the people and sent from heaven to earth a son and a daughter of his kind, in order to teach them the knowledge of our father the sun, so they might adore him and take him as a god, and to give them precepts and laws so they might live like reasonable men ..."
(Op. cit.)
In fact, the civilization of the Incas was very advanced, especially in architecture and agriculture. They were probably the first people on earth who invented an earthquake-resistent architecture, and the quality of their irrigation systems has never again been matched in this country.
So, if we have to speak now of the darker side of the Inca civilization, this is not meant to say that everything was bad in those times. But the purpose of this present work is to trace the roots of the wounds which are so characteristic of Peru. Many of these roots can be found in the conquest; but some of them date from Incaic times.
In spite of all their qualities, the Incas too were conquerors. Most of the ancient Peruvians suffered the fate of being conquered by the Incas, a long time before the Spaniards arrived.
Another point which calls for our attention is the religious manipulation practised by the Incas. Another ancient chronicler, Guaman Poma de Ayala, agrees with Garcilaso about the primitive lifestyle of the pre-incaic inhabitants. But additionally, he mentions their remote knowledge about a Creator God, and their intense seeking for this God:
"And those people did not know how to make anything; they were clothed in leaves from trees and rush-mats. They did not know how to build houses either; they lived in caves. All their work was adoring God, ... and they said with loud voices: "Lord, how long will I cry and you do not hear me?" ... And they did not adore the demons called huacas.
These people had lost faith and knowledge of God, and letters and commandments, and so they got lost themselves. But they still had a shadow of knowledge about the Creator of men and the world and heaven. So they adored and called God "Runa Camac Uiracocha" (Lord Creator of mankind). ... Their knees bent, their hands upon their faces, looking towards heaven, they asked for health and mercy, and cried out aloud: "Where are you, where are you, my father?"
(Guamán Poma de Ayala, "Nueva Crónica y Buen Gobierno", 1612-1615)
Can we imagine those people, remembering their God whose
knowledge they had lost, falling on their knees before him
without knowing where to find him, seeking for him everywhere?
They were very much like the people Jesus found when he walked
through Galilee: "...he saw a large crowd and had
compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a
shepherd. So he began teaching them many things." (Mark
6:34) Those people were so hungry for God and so longing for a
leader who would guide them as a pastor guides his sheep, that
the multitudes immediately followed Jesus. Were not those
ancestors of the Peruvian people equally longing for a
"master"? - So there came the Incas saying they were
sons of the sun god, and taught them to worship the sun. This
way, they assured for themselves the reverence and submission of
the people.
It is here where Poma de Ayala, the first "indigenist
chronicler", differs very much from Garcilaso, regarding the
origin of the Incas. He gives us very much the impression that
the Incas exploited this search for God, in order to impose
themselves on these "sheep without a shepherd". It
seems that they themselves did not believe in the myth about the
sun god, but they used it deliberately as a means to win
influence:
"The father of the first Inca, Manco Capac, was unknown; therefore they called him "son of the sun". But his mother was Mama Huaco. This woman was a great deceiver, idol-worshipper and witch, who talked to the demons. ... She invented the huacas (pagan worship places) and deceived with them the Indians. ... So this women Mama Huaco was obeyed and served, and they called her Queen of Cusco. She slept with the men she wanted, from all the people, as the very old Indians are telling.
... She married her own son and knew by the demons that she was pregnant. The demon told her not to show the baby to anybody, but to give him to a nurse and hide him in a cave. Two years later, she should take him out of the cave and announce that from this place, Pacaritambo, a mighty king would come forth, Inca Manco Capac, son of the sun and the moon."
(Nueva Crónica y Buen Gobierno, Guamán Poma de Ayala, 1612-1615)
It is certainly not easy to distinguish between truth and
legends in the ancient chronicles. However, there are two strong
reasons to assume that this, and not Garcilaso's, is the real
story:
- From Pacaritambo, it is possible to reach Cusco in a day's
walk. On the other hand, from Lake Titicaca (from where the Incas
came according to Garcilaso), there is a distance of over 400
kilometers.
- Until today, the popular religion which has its origins in the
religion of the Incas, is very much involved in spiritism and
witchcraft.
Further, it is interesting to note that the original knowledge of the true Creator God was never quite extinguished, not even in the zenith of the Inca empire which had established sun worship as their state religion. There was even a prominent effort to restore the adoration of the Creator God:
"This prince (Inca Yupanqui) ... gathered in Cusco all the priests of the land in a general assembly, in order to discuss religious questions. ...
Inca Yupanqui asked them if they knew of any being more powerful than the sun, who had more power over the world and over all events. All of them replied that nobody was allowed to believe that there was any being on earth or in heaven superior (to the sun).
So Inca Yupanqui said to them: "... How can you, being priests, participate in the errors of the people? ... Know you then, old ignorants, that I have found by the power of my spirit, that the sun ... cannot be the sovereign Creator of all things visible and invisible. How could I take as owner of the world and lord universal, a being who must work like a labourer in order to illuminate the world; who has to appear and disappear in order to make day when it is night elsewhere; ... so he is not all-powerful, since he needs to come and go, and leave his throne, supposing he had one. My brothers and fathers, look for him who governs over the sun, who commands him to run his way, and see how the universal Creator is so powerful. ..."
The assembly decided that there existed a primary cause, all-powerful and universal, who should be invoked in prayer. They called him Ticci-Viracocha-Pachacamac (Lord of all Good, and Creator of the World)."
(Miguel Cabello de Balboa, "Historia del Perú bajo la dominación de los Incas", Siglo XVI)
"Inca Yupanqui talked to those of his council, that the sun could not be the Creator of all things; since if it were so, it were not possible that a tiny cloud could disturb this splendor so he would not shine; and if he were the creator of all things, he would rest some day, and he would illuminate the whole world from one single place and would command what he wanted to; but since it was not so, there had to be another being who commanded the sun, the Creator of the world."
(Cristóbal de Molina, "Relación de las fábulas y ritos de los Incas", 1574)
The "sheep without a shepherd" continued in their
search for the true God. They were not satisfied with a
substitute. Even the very descendants of those who had instituted
sun worship, doubted a lot about this religion. Sadly, Inca
Yupanqui's discovery was not made known among the people. It was
maintained as a secret, an "esoteric knowledge", among
the priests and nobles. Therefore, sun worship remained the most
commonly known part of the Inca's religion.
During the 20th century, an anthropological theory has gained
much popularity, saying that primitive people have generally a
polytheistic religion, and ony the most advanced civilizations
develop monotehistic religions. Therefore, the
"scientific" world does not give much credit to reports
like Poma de Ayala's, about the monotheistic faith of pre-incaic
cultures. However, more serious investigations discovered that in
almost every "primitive" society, behind their
paganism, was found hidden in their myths and traditions some
remote remembrance of the one Creator Dios, from whom they had
withdrawn. Many examples can be found in Don Richardson,
"Eternity in their hearts".
About the Incas, Richardson comments:
"What would have happened if Christian missionaries from Europe had reached Peru two or three generations ahead of the conquistadores? Surely that period was the optimum time for the Gospel to arrive. Interest in the concept of one supreme God was at a fever pitch in the royal family and the upper class. ... Incas themselves, moreover, believed a vague prophecy that one day Viracocha would bring blessing from the west, i.e., by sea.
But compassionate Christian message-bearers, whoever they should have been, defaulted. In their place came a heartless political conqueror and commercialist - Pizarro - and his rapacious army. Pretending that he was acting in God's name, Pizarro approached Peru by sea and exploited Incan monotheistic expectations to destroy both the Incas and their empire.
... How differently history might have unfolded if only true messengers of the Gospel had arrived first! Not only to deliver their message, but also to serve Aztecs, Incas and other endangered peoples of the Americas as ombudsmen, teaching them in advance how to deal with ruthless plitical/commercial forces soon to follow. ... Maya, Aztec and Inca empires might have survived to this day."
(Don Richardson, "Eternity in their hearts")
Now we get to the darkest era of Peruvian history.
First, according to Garcilaso de la Vega, it appears that, curiously, the Incas predisposed themselves to be conquered. The following was told about the death of Inca Huayna Capac, who had already received notice about strangers sailing along the coast of his empire:
"(Huayna Capac, before his death) called the captains and chiefs ... and said: For many years we have believed, by revelation of our father the sun, that after twelve kings, there will come a new and unknown people who will win and subject to their empire all our territories and many others. ... We must also remember that with me, the twelve Incas are complete. I guarantee you that few years after I have departed from you, these new people will arrive and will fulfill what our father the sun has said, and will win our empire and be lords over it. I command you to obey and serve them; they have every advantage over you; their law will be better than ours; and their weapons more powerful than ours."
Garcilaso de la Vega, "Comentarios Reales"
Huayna Capac would never have imagined the terror brought by these strangers "better than we". Let us hear now one of the witnesses of the conquest: Bartolomé de Las Casas. According to his conviction, the Americas needed "preaching of the Gospel of Christ, spreading of the Christian religion and conversion of souls; for which is not needed a conquest by weapons, but conviction by sweet and godly words, and examples and works of a holy life" (in "Memorial de remedios"). But he came too late, and saw a reality already dominated by the conquerors:
"All those people, God created them most simple, without evil nor falsehood, obedient, faithful to their natural and foreign lords... They are neat and with a lively understanding, very capable of being instructed in every good doctrine, apt of receiving our holy catholic faith ...
In those meek sheep entered the Spaniards, from the moment they got to know them, like most cruel and hungry wolfs and tigers and lions. And in the last forty years, until now, they have not done anything but lacerating them, killing them, scaring them, tormenting them, and destroying them with a cruelty never heard of.
... We give this as a very sure and true account, that in these forty years, by the said tyrannies and hellish deeds of the Christians, more than twelve million souls have died, men and women and children...
The reason why they destroyed such an infinite number of souls, was only in order to obtain their gold and fill themselves with wealth in short days, and rise to very high positions without proportion to their person ...
And this is a very proven truth, confessed even by the tyrants and killers: that the Indians never did any harm to the Christians, on the contrary, they received them as having come from heaven, until they or their neighbors had to suffer many evils, theft, murder, rape and violence from them.
... The Christians began to take the wives and children of the Indians, to use and abuse them; and ate their food they had produced with their sweat and labour; ... and what was sufficient for three families for one month, one Christian eats and destroys in one day ... So some of them hid their food; others hid their wives and children; and other fled to the mountains. This exceeded to such shamelessness that a Christian captain violated the wive of the king of a whole island.
... They made bets about who was able to open a man's body with a single stroke of a knife, or to decapitate a man, or to expose his bowels. They took the babies from their mother's breast and hit their heads against the rocks. They made large gallows and hung them by thirteens, in honour of our Redeemer and the twelve Apostles, and putting wood and fire, burned them alive."
Bartolomé de las Casas: Brevíssima relación de la destruyción de las Indias. 1552
There are very different forms of abuse, but as we shall see
later, all of them produce the same psychological consequences in
the victims. In the Conquest, we observe almost every existent
form of abuse, and the victim was not an individual person, but
an entire nation. Therefore we can understand that the Peruvian
soul, in its collectivity, shows the psychological traits of an
abused person. (We shall speak
later about these traits.)
- The most obvious, at first sight, is physical abuse.
With pure violence, the Spaniards forced the inhabitants to
submit to them. See the report by Bartolomé de las Casas.
- Much related to physical abuse is sexual abuse. We
cannot imagine the suffering of the incountable women raped by
the conquerors.
- Further, we note that the Spaniards commited economical
abuse. They used every form of exploitation and theft, in
order to get the wealth of Peru, especially its gold. They also
exploited the Indians by taking them as slaves.
- There is another kind of abuse which is much more subtle, but
not less dangerous. I am talking about spiritual abuse.
This abuse happens when a person uses his or her religious
position, his relationship with God, and the very name of God, in
order to reach his or her own selfish goals. The Spaniards, as it
seems, knew very well how to use this weapon.
We have already seen that the Incas believed in a prophecy about
"white, bearded gods" who would come from the sea to
bring them a blessing. Pizarro acted as if he was fulfilling this
prophecy. If the inhabitants of the empire had not themselves
opened the doors for Pizarro's army, believing that he was sent
by the gods, the empire would not have been conquered so easily.
We see a clear example of the abuse of God's name in the capture of Inca Atahuallpa. A modern historian relates it this way:
"In the afternoon of November 16, 1532, Atahuallpa advanced majestically, in his golden sedan-chair, with his whole army, towards the main square of the city. Arriving there, he was surprised not to see any of the Spaniards. Then, friar Vicente Valverde, accompanied by his translator, came to his encounter and confronted him verbally with the "Requirement", a legal formulism demanding the Inca's pacific submisson to the King of Spain. The Inca did not understand the Requirement, and Valverde handed him a book, probably a breviary or a Bible. The Inca threw it away and said angrily that the Spaniards should give back everything they had stolen from his subordinates. Valverde, terrified, ran to the place where Pizarro was hiding, and asked him to attack. Instantly, the Governor commanded to attack. - Other sources say that Valverde shouted: "The Gospels on the ground! Vengeance, Christians!" - "... The surprise of the Indians was total. Pizarro with his men advanced until the Inca's sedan-chair, killed the carriers and captured Atahuallpa."
(José Tamayo Herrera, "Nuevo compendio de historia del Perú")
These were the words of Valverde's sermon, the "Requirement":
"I am a priest of God and teach the Christians the divine things, and so I come to teach them to you. God, who is one in essence and triune in person, created the heaven, the earth and everything on it ... (there follows a summary of the doctrine of Creation, the Fall, and Redemption.) ... The popes, who are successors of St. Peter, govern over mankind; all nations ... must obey them. A pope has given all these lands tho the kings of Spain, in order to pacify the infidels and bring them under the dominion of the Catholic Church, outside of which nobody can be saved. The Governor Pizarro has come with this commission. You must then, Sir, acknowledge yourself tributary to the Emperor, abandon sun worship and all idolatry which would lead you to hell, and receive the true religion. If you do this, God will give you the reward, and the Spaniards will protect you against your enemies."
(Lorente, "Historia de la Conquista del Perú", quoted in John A.Mackay, "The Other Spanish Christ")
Here we are in front of an event which leaves us perplexed.
Two men who call themselves "Christians", Pizarro and
Valverde, come to conquer and betray the Incas, by means of the
Word of God and with the Bible in their hands. This book, the
Bible, was given us by God in order to give us freedom. "You
shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John
8:32). It was this same book which inspired the English, at the
beginning of the 19th century, to set their slaves free, under
the influence of William Wilberforce, a Christian politician. We
could mention many other examples how the message of the Bible
changed the world for good, brought blessing and freedom. But in
the hands of the Spaniards, this same book was used to conquer,
oppress and exploit a whole continent.
How can we explain this fact? - The name of God, and the Word of
God, undoubtedly have power. But sadly, it is possible for a
person to use this power in order to reach his or her own selfish
goals, without submitting him- or herself to this Word. This is
what we call "spiritual abuse".
This religious deception was far more tragic than the one which
occurred in the time of the Incas: The Incas, when they
discovered that worship of the "sun god" was a fraud,
they could easily turn away from this false god and return to the
true God (as Inca Yupanqui actually proposed). - But now, the
people was deceived in the name of the true God for whom they had
waited. How would they react to this situation? If they wanted to
follow the true God, thay had to believe that this God was cruel,
deceiving, against them and in favour of the conquerors. If they
did not want to believe this, thay had to go back to their false
gods.
They did not have the option of knowing God as trustworthy,
merciful, a Protector and Defender; since God was never presented
to them this way. Can we imagine their disappointment? Finally,
they found themselves in front of this God they had sought and
longed for during many centuries. But this God does not show
himself as compassionate and merciful, but with a cruel and
devastating face.
This is of course a lie, an awful caricature which slanders God.
But this lie had the power of guiding the religious history of
Peru during the following centuries. The deception stole their
trust in God.
We can observe that in the religiosity of the people, the two possible reactions merged. On one side, they bowed before the God of the conquerors. Thousands and thousands were forced to get baptized and to follow the catholic rites, at least externally. But on the other hand, they also used "counter-deception". While they were good Catholics on the outside, their hearts remained faithful to their ancient gods.
"The Catholic churches were built upon the pre-columbian sanctuaries; the Corpus Christi was celebrated on the same day as the ancient Sun Fiest ... While the priest believed that with this policy he had triumphed in covering the old pagan religion with the new structures, the Indian was happy to worship his gods on the accustomed days. Frequently, the priests or missionaries discovered hidden Indian symbols on the altars, old huacas with traces of recent worship."
(Luis E. Valcárcel, quoted in: Tito Paredes, "El evangelio en platos de barro")
So there entered a new element into Peruvian religion: Fake worship. Since then, we find people who use their religious affiliation in order to obtain personal benefits. But is this not just a faithful imitation of what the Spaniards did? Calling themselves "Christians", and under this pretext demanding the submission of everybody else, denying Christ with their deeds, this is also fake worship.
Not ony in the religious aspect, but generally, the conquerors
used deception. They pretended being on the side of Huascar,
Atahuallpas rival, in order to obtain his followers' loyalty;
while their real purpose was conquering both kingdoms.
With Atahuallpa they made an agreement of liberating him in
exchange for a room full of gold. They took the gold, but killed
Atahuallpa.
After the Conquest, Peru would never again be the same. The
abuse of power has opened deep wounds, and we are still feeling
the consequences today. This kind of wounds does not heal with
time, but spreads and causes more wounds, if they are not
properly cured.
There are particularly two ways how these wounds spread:
1) The abused person, illogical as it seems, disposes him- or
herself to suffer more abuse. He or she begins inconsciously to
exhibit certain psychological characteristics which
"attract" other abusers and cause the victim to be
wounded again.
2) The abused person may begin to imitate or reproduce the
abuser's behaviour, wounding other people. For example, most
criminals guilty of rape have been themselves victims of sexual
abuse in the past.
The independence
Towards the end of the 18th century, the revolutionary Tupac Amaru II gathers his army in the hidden villages of the highlands, in order to take the city of Cusco. But then it happens, surprisingly, unbelievably, that the Indian inhabitants of Cusco enter into an alliance with the Spaniards, in order to defeat and conquer Tupac Amaru. They were more loyal to their oppressors than to their liberator!
Why did they betray their liberator?
We mentioned already the paradoxical fact that abuse seems to call for more abuse. We will enter into details when speaking about the psychological consequences of abuse. For now, we will just note it and be astonished.
Then we find another surprising fact. Every country which celebrates its independence, has its heroes of liberty, and these heroes are obviously supposed to be nationals of the country they freed. Not so in Peru. Its celebrated liberators, Jose de San Martin and Simon Bolivar, were both foreigners! They did not come from Peru, nor from any other country which formerly integrated the Inca empire. San Martin was from Argentina and Bolivar from Venezuela. It seems almost as if Peru had to bee liberated by force, and that its own inhabitants had not such a strong will for their independence.
Freedom implies responsibility. A free person, and a free country, must make their own decisions. But when the State of Bolivia was constituted in 1825, its leaders asked Bolivar to write the Constitution of the new State, instead of assuming this responsibility themselves. This same Constitution was also imposed, for some time, upon Peru.
It seems that the characteristics of the "sheep without a
shepherd" are so deeply rooted in the Peruvian people, this
desire of being guided and dominated, that when they are offered
freedom, they prefer to remain under oppression. They prefer the
well-known and "safe" situation of oppression, instead
of a liberty which means taking risks, leaving the well-known
places and assuming their own responsibility.
This is similar to a bird which was kept in a cage for many
years. One day, the door of the cage is opened and freedom
offered. But the poor bird is so accustomed to this life in a
reduced, closed space, that he ignores the open door and remains
in the cage. Maybe he would remain there until today, had not
come San Martin to push him out!
The Bible tells us an interesting event in Israel's past. One
day, the leaders of the nation came to the prophet Samuel and
said: "Appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other
nations have." (1 Samuel chapter 8)
Samuel asks God about it, and receives a very illuminating
answer. First, God says to him: "It is
not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their
king."
The people of Israel had the great privilege of being directly
under God's authority. When it was necessary, God himself gave
authority to a "judge" who represented God's authority
before the people and had to consult God about every affair of
the nation. In this system, power abuse was practically
impossible, since nobody could attribute leadership to himself.
God watched over the Government, and he himself appointed and
destituted leaders in a way which was best for the people. Samuel
was the last of these judges.
When the people asked for a king, they did not reject Samuel as a
person, but they rejected the system he represented. They wanted
to institute a human authority independent from God's authority,
"such as all the other nations have". So God warns them
seriously about the consequences awaiting them:
"This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots."
(1 Samuel 8:11-17)
The king, no longer dependant on God as the judges were, would
use his power in order to benefit himself, in expense of the
people. This is what we call "power abuse".
But in spite of these warnings, the people insists: "No, we
want a king over us."
This same cry seems to resound over the centuries from the lips
of Peruvians: "We want a king! We want to be
dominated!" - And this after they had not only been warned,
but had lived and suffered themselves the consequences during
three centuries.
Even in the era of independence and freedom, Peru has lived under many dictators. And even among those presidents who governed according to democratic principles, very few of them have not used their power in some way to benefit themselves. Maybe Peruvians are until today not fully convinced that they really want independence?
The admiration of some "strong man" is very
widespread in Peru. He who always gets what he wants, is being
admired - no matter if he brings good or evil. So one can get to
the extreme of admiring his own oppressors.
In Eastern Europe, after the fall of Communism, the statues of
Marx and Lenin disappeared very quickly. Not so in Peru: Until
very few years ago, in Lima was still a monument of Pizarro to be
seen. In downtown Cusco, there is an Almagro Street (Almagro was
a companion of Pizarro), and hotels have names like
"Colonial Palace" or "The viceroy" (this was
the supreme ruler in colonial times).
And most obvious of all: Peruvians still hold tightly to the
religion of the conquerors (at least externally). Many Peruvians
affirm proudly: "I am an Apostolic Roman Catholic",
unaware of the fact that this is not a merit at all. For the
average Peruvian is Catholic, not because he had considered the
options and chosen, as a free man, the best of them. No, the
average Peruvian is Catholic only because some day, in the remote
past, one of his ancestors had been forced by the colonial
government to be baptized.
Hijos
del Altísimo (Children of the Most High) - http://www.altisimo.net -
Introduction - - - - - A
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