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The INCA ATAHUALPA was without a doubt the most
influential and powerful leader of the empire during the year 1532.As a result of the voyages of Pizarro in early 1532,the Inca knew of their arrival in Tumbes(north region in Peru)through people from the region.
In the 100 years of real hegemony(Pachacutec consolidated a real expansion in 1434 by conquering the neighboring CHANCAS culture).Both brothers HUASCAR and ATAHUALPA got involved in a civil war,as soon as they found out their father HUAYNA CAPAC died of a rare sickness in 1525(HUAYNA CAPAC,wanted to divide the empire between these two young leaders;but neither of them accepted;by now we know that he got one of worse sickness in those days ever contracted by a native from the highlands:A WESTERN VIRUS)Both stubbornly thought to be the legitimate heir to the throne.
This interview deals with the last moments in the mind of the Inca ATAHUALPA,according with our scholars and all chronicles gathered through all these centuries.
CAXAMALLCA,JULY 26,1533,1:30 AM
Q:Ayinyachu!(HOW ARE YOU DOING)your Majesty!!..Are you aware of what's going to happen this morning?
ATAHUALPA:Yes I'm gonna die at the stake,but they do not know that my God is made of the most powerful fire ever..so I will be embrace by my father and my ancestors when I die..
Q:Your brother HUASCAR died misteriously a few months ago on his way to caxamallca to be more precise at the end of may of 1533.Do you know about this incident?
ATAHUALPA:Well,now that last night Pizarro sentenced me to death,I'm going to be honest with you:I ordered my commander in chief CHALCUCHIMAC,through a servant that came to clean my cell,to literally get rid of my brother;because I found out through my own intelligence that He was going to make some kind of an alliance with the Wiracochas(spaniards)as soon as he arrived to this city,so I had to do it in order to save my honor .
Q:How old are you?
ATAHUALPA:We do not use this western way of calculating time;but I can tell you that my life has seen 31 harvests since I was born,thanks to my mother's help in telling me of my beginnings.
Q:HOW DID YOUR EMPIRE BUILD THE FORTRESS OF SACSAYHUAMAN IN CUZCO?WE ARE AMAZED BY THE SIZE OF THE STONES USED IN THE CONSTRUCTION!!
Well,look I was born from the Quittan tribe and that's about a thousand of your miles northwest from Cuzco.My father Huayna Capac,told me of our ancestors that came from the south after the great deluge;they civilized our parents that used to lived like animals by hunting and fishing;they tamed our llamas to become our beast of burden.They taught our parents how to cut big stones by using some kind of a cutting weapon that produced intense energy;its hard to explain but they used energy from our God(nuclear energy?).Our ancestors taught us by experience,that no matter what,we will have to always harvest in the highlands,they knew that the great deluge was cyclical and your culture will see it again in ten of thousand of your years.That's why mi greatgranfather PACHACUTEC improved the Inca highway that starts in Cuzco and run through the core of the andes and finishes in the valley of my ancestors(QUITO,ECUADOR).Through mixing our harvest(cloning?),our ancestors created the POTATOE,CORN,OCA,QUINUA and different medicinal plants that your culture lost in time.MANCO CAPAC taught my parents how to work the metals,make weapons and sow the PACHAMAMA(sacred land);MAMA OCLLO taught women how to cook ,how to make beautiful textiles and how to raise the children...So many things to tell you my friend ..!!ok back to reality.hmmm!
Q:How did you...I mean,you with an army of 10,000 soldiers or warriors lost the battle to a merily 180 spanish "conquistadores"?
ATAHUALPA:MANAN..!(No!!).Let me tell you what happenned:My warriors were not use to those animals called horses,and their weaponry was totally new to us;we never saw an archebus,besides their so called armors were almost like invencible shields to our slingshots..to our maces.I miscalculated my strategies;Pizarro got us ambushed in the afternoon of november 16 of last year.He killed unmisericordly 5,000 of my close servants and lieutenants by causing a sudden attack on my men as soon as we got in the middle of the PLAZA MAYOR of caxamalca.First,the only person that I saw was father VALVERDE ,who, through a translator called ",felipillo" if I remember,was preaching to me this Jesus who died in the cross and telling me to repent and renounce to my GOD.He handed me a group of sheets binded together called BIBLE...and I was trying to get hold of it and said.. what does this thing represent!!and threw it to the floor.."is your GOD inside this thing!!?".Thats when father VALVERDE called me "blasfemous!!!" how could you!!!.and then he ran toward the back of the barracks shouting SANTIAGO!!then their cavalry and their cannons..oh!most of my main servants ran terrified ..so terrified that they torn down a wall thicker than half of your yards.I fell captive inmediatly.I remember that Pizarro saved my life because one of his soldiers was coming to behead me or crushed me to death,but Don Francisco got wounded trying to stop his soldier intentions.
Q:We know that the night before your capture you recieved 3 of Pizarros emmisaries in your royal tent,inviting you to meet Pizarro the next morning in caxamarca.Why you didn't hold them hostage and attack the rest of the enemies overnight?
ATAHUALPA:I told you ..I miscalculated my intentions.First,I was going to kill most of them and keep 3 or 4 alive..you know why?.to teach me how to ride and tame those beautiful animals called horses..they cause me admiration!! ..oh their speed!! forget my llamas.But I was going to let my people castrate the survivors.
Q:Is it true that Hernando Pizarro became one of your best friends?
ATAHUALPA:Ari!!(Yes).He taught me how to play chess.I got so good at it that I began to defeat him and his seconds in command..check mate!!.If He were here,Francisco Pizarro wouldn't have had enough power to carry on with this sentence.Sometimes I think that's why they sent him to Spain..to avoid his judgement toward the sentence.Yes,I cried when they announced it.I cried for my children and wives.Pizarro told me that He was going to take care of my kids.I asked him to send my remains to QUITO,but he denied fearing my martirization.He told me that my remains would stay in the local church,that they were going to build.
Q:Your majesty..we're going to rebel something to you..we shouldn't, because we can not alter history.. but..anyway..you are going to accept their religion at the last minute and they're going to baptize you with a new name:Juan
Q:They're going to commute your sentence..You are not going to die being burnt at the stake..You're going to be garroted by repenting all of your sins to our LORD.
ATAHUALPA:Well what can I tell you.I will encommend to my God INTI and to my ancestors that rest in the KORICANCHA.
Q:What happened with the gold for your rescue?
ATAHUALPA:Well,according to one of my servants that they let live to take care of my royal needs,they melted all the gold from the whole empire that was coming from:Koricancha in Cuzco;Moche,Paracas,Nazca,Chavin of Huantar,Pachacamac,from our local lordships like Sipan,Tucume..and the list continues..If you can remember I offered these aliens a room full of gold to the highest reach of the tip of my fingers above my shoulder and another room of equal capacity full of silver as ransom.I found out that these foreigners loved gold,I could see it in their eyes.Yesterday I was sentenced to die for poligamist,for worshiping my GOD the Inti,for plannig my brother's death and for treason!!..treason?..yeah for attempting to cause upheaval,insubordination and revolt among my people..
Q:Couldn't felipillo help you to scape?
ATAHUALPA:That "SOPAIPAWOOAGUA"(Son of the demon)He raped one of my mamaconas(concubines),and He knows that I know by now that He is dead meat if I ever catch him.He was spreading the rumor that I was planning my own scape.Now I understand his hatred,besides he is from one of the tumbes communities that my father and I conquered some time ago.
Anything that you regret?
ATAHUALPA:I regret not listenen to my generals QUISHQUIS and CHALCUCHIMAC.These white wiracochas were easy prey when they were crossing the HUAYLAS path;my watchers told me that their horses were exhausted by being force to pull all the cannons and weaponry into the highlands,because the HUAYLAS path is about 6,000 feet above sea level.My generals told me they were ready to stone them to death,by dropping enourmous rocks from the higher cliffs,and the spaniards were already running out of breath..but I decided to play cat and mouse.I feel in despair and my eyes are reddish, out of impotence.Oh!only GOD;my GOD,your GOD...know why these things happen the way they happen..sorry I'm running out of time .
Q:You are a great general,your majesty!!
ATAHUALPA:Thanks,and have to go now..pajarincamah!!(see you tomorrow)
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It has been a pleasure your majesty!!
caxamallca,July 26,1533 4:45a.m.
ATAHUALPA is taken from his cell,hurriedly and stoically waits for his sentence..all of a suddden father fray VINCENT OF VALVERDE asks him to accept Christ as his only saviour and repent of all of his sins.."in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit..Amen".He agrees and gets baptized inmediatly.PIZARRO suggests a new name for atahualpa after his brother Juan.So.. you will not die at the STAKE..you will be garroted instead.And Atahualpa with taciturn look is put to death by axfixiation.When the local indians found out it was too late,the day of his burial many of his cocubines killed themselves ...others wanted to rest next to the INCA by inflicting themselves mortal wounds,others offered CHICHA(juice from corn)so He won't be thirsty in his other life.. It was the end of the Inca empire as we knew it .
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