El rol de los alcaldes de indios en las insurrecciones andinas (Perú a inicios del siglo XIX)

Abstract

The structures of power, especially after the rebellion of Tupac Amaru, were modified as a result of the Bourbon reforms instituted in the second half of the XVIIIth century. The curacas or caciques, the native authorities that even today mediate between native commoners and the state, were replaced by elected officials, the native councilmen. This study discusses these power brokers. In order to better elucidate their characteristics, one open conflict is analyzed. This instance is the 1812 insurrection of Huanuco, which is famous for being led by the councilmen, who mobilized various parties, constituting, according to the Viceroy Abascal, in the «the most critical point of my Viceroyalty».How was this mobilization organized? What role did these most privileged councilmen assume? What relationships did they maintain with their own communities, between communities, among themselves, and with creole rebel leaders and viceregal authorities? What types of behavior characterized the councilmen? What were the manipulations and pressures brought to bear on them or that they used?Paradoxically, while the legitimate curacas lost their authority, the communities, led by the councilmen, merged in the name of the «Inca King» with the same memory that the creole leaders invoked to incite the population to fight.The rebellion that signified a tear in the social fabric sheds light directly on the role of these actors and on the significance of the symbols they employed.

Keywords

• Peru
• Native councilmen
• Andean rebellions
• 18th and 19th centuries
• rumors
• Inca myth