The Tragedy of Uchuraccay: Report on Shining Path

Uchuraccay has not been the subject of any systematic study; in the mid-1980s an anthropological expedition from the Universidad de Huamanga, led by Professor Mario Benavides, made a frustrated attempt to make contact. The population watched them arrive, allowed them to sit at the door of their church, and then detained them, refusing to speak with them until their authorities arrived. Some time later the teacher and the four students accompanying him were taken to the community hall and interrogated by the Teniente Gobernador and the varayocs, who, after dismissing their credentials, told them to leave. The treatment received was firm and characterized by studied non-communication, but could in no way be considered violent. This attitude was not new. Traditionally, the highland communities of the province of Huanta only maintained those relationships that did not compromise the autonomous character of their communal decisions. There is documented evidence that since independence — at least — their population and particular interests were stirred up for more general causes (loyalty to the King or to the Republic, Cácerism, the war with Chile, etc.) in such a way as to constitute an informal reserve army. And in this there was no recourse to any phantasmagoric ferocity of the Uchuraquinos, Quichuanos, etc., but rather to the necessary use of the highlands and logistical support for the movement of troops that would then fall by surprise upon towns of regular importance, which, like Huanta and Tambo, are located in the lowland areas. (Excerpt from the introduction).