Of martyrs and popular memory

As we here, in the United States, are now soul searching in the aftermath of the civil unrest and heavy-handed police response in Ferguson, Missouri, I am reminded of an encounter I had recently in Ayacucho and what it revealed to me regarding a set of events that took place in Ayacucho in 1969.

In Huamanga -i.e. the city of Ayacucho-  four students were shot dead by the Sinchis -the police's specialized counterinsurgency battalion- during protests.  In nearby Huanta the toll was higher.

Here is what I wrote about them in my university thesis:

"In January, 1969, the military government had passed Supreme Decree 006 which restricted access to free public education by retroactively instituting a 100 sol  monthly tuition of all students who failed a course the previous year.  Naturally, this measure affected the poor far more than the rich as it was already an economic burden for many families to spare the children long enough for them to attend school, and the very conditions imposed by poverty  made it far more likely that they would fail a course.    Not surprisingly, D.S. 006 proved very unpopular and provoked a four-month-long series of protests in Huamanga and Huanta.   In Huamanga the protests were primarily led by the [Communist Party's local committee] through the Frente de Defensa del Pueblo de Ayacucho (Front for the Defense of the People of Ayacucho, FDPA) and the FER [Revolutionary Student Front].   In Huanta, where the degree of organization was lesser, the protests were more spontaneous and also more violent.   At least 18 people lost their lives and many more were wounded during street battles with police in both cities."

The events are memorialized in a popular song, "Flor de Retama", composed by the late Ricardo Dolorier.   Among the lyrics are the lines

Ay! Come all to see.
By the plaza of Huanta
the Sinchis are coming in.
They're going to kill students,
Huantinos at heart

.

Although the military tried to suppress it, the people's memory persisted and in 1974 the Front for the Defense of the People of Ayacucho placed plaques at the spots where each of the four students were murdered.

When I was in Ayacucho in July, attending a colloquium on the role of women in armed conflict and pacification in Peru from 1961 onward, I met a gentleman who had been a student at the time of the protests and continued to be involved in the local movement for human rights.   

He told me about the plaques, which to my surprise had been completely unknown to me.

One of them had been placed on the front of a building that was then torn down and the plaque lost.  This gentleman had managed to locate it after several years of searching and the owners of the new building were persuaded to allow it to again be placed at the spot.  I neglected to note the location of it [It is at the corner of Jiron Munive and Jiron Madrid, in the San Juan Bautista district (1/3/15)], and of one other, but I did remember that one was located at the end of Jiron Tres Mascaras, near the "new bridge" over the Alameda River, which runs through town The fourth plaque was, to my surprise, one I had walked past without noticing on many occasions when passing through the archway near the market, on Jiron 28 de Julio.

On my last afternoon in Ayacucho, I made a sort pilgrimage to that spot, and for the first time beheld what had been so often bypassed by me: the plaque, placed by the people of Ayacucho, in memory of one whom they regarded as a martyr in their struggle for social justice - young Eulogio Yaranga Saune, killed on that spot on the 21st of June of 1969, while defending the right of the people to a free public education.

A Few Photos From Along Ayacucho's Main Plaza

The Plaza

Ayacucho's main plaza

Equestrian statue of Gen. Antonio Jose de Sucre, one of Bolivar's lieutenants, who led the Independentist forces to victory over the last remnant of the Spanish colonial army at the Battle of Ayacucho.

Most of the plaza was built in the late 1500s and 1600s and all the buildings are in the Spanish style of the time.  There is one detail, however, that passes unnoticed even by people who've grown up in Ayacucho:

Portion of a wall  in Portal Independencia, along the north side of the plaza, showing that at least one Inca mason was used in erecting the original building along the plaza.  Note the close, mortarless fit between stones, and that the face of the each stone bulges out, and recedes toward the joining edges.

 

 

The Cathedral 

Ayacucho cathedral, erected in the 1600s and consecrated in 1671.  To it's right is the Zamora y Castilla mansion, which once belonged to Bishop Cristobal de Castilla y Zamora, who donated it to the newly-created University of Huamanga in 1677.

Central nave and the Baroque main altar of the Cathedral.

 Baroque wooden pulpit.

Detail of one of the chapels along the side naves of the cathedral.  In this case, the depiction is of the Holy Trinity.

The main altar.

Litter bearing the image of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, ready to be borne in procession in the upcoming Fiesta de la Virgen del Carmen (July 16th).

The University House

 

Patio of the Zamora y Castilla mansion.   According to some authorities, that fig tree is 500 years old and is the first one to have been brought to Peru.

A Few Pictures of the Old Family Home in Ayacucho

The view down the street, on Av. Garcilazo de la Vega.  The peach-colored building used to be a police station, and during the Shining Path attack on the city jail in March 1982 guerrilla snipers took over the rooftops on the near side of the street in order to prevent the officers from sallying in support of their comrades at the jail, five blocks down the street.

The view out back.  The large building used to be the Cavero family's cinema.  Every afternoon on my summer visits to Ayacucho was marked by the sound of the cinema's generator going on for the day's showings.  Today it is an evangelical church, but they have kept the projector on display in what used to be the lobby.

The main part of the house, likely built in the 1700s, viewed from the entrance to the courtyard. My great aunt Esther had a parrot, named Pepinillo Landaeta (or Pepe, for short), who lived on the ledge on that nearest column.

A partial view of the house's courtyard and balcony.  The door at the end of the balcony used to be my great aunt Esther's room, and to its right, behind that shuttered window, was the parlor.

Ayacucho Museum to the Memory of Those Killed and Disappeared During the War Years

The main reason I traveled to Ayacucho last week was to attend a two-evening colloquium on "Class, Gender and the Building of Peace in Peru (1961-2014)".  It's main purpose was to examine the role of women in social movements, guerrilla groups, and in building peace and reconciliation, beginning with the  guerrillas of the 1960s,  but centering on the internal war waged  between the Peruvian state and the guerrillas of the Shining Path and Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement in the 1980s and 1990s.

Given the political climate in the country at the moment, all doors were closed to the holding such an event in Lima.  However, in Ayacucho, which had been at the center of the violence and which suffered the greatest number of victims -between those killed, disappeared, tortured, traumatized, and displaced- the doors were opened.  And they were opened by no less than the mothers and relatives of the disappeared organized in the Association of Relatives of the Kidnapped, Detained, and Disappeared of Peru (ANFASEP).

ANFASEP was started in 1983, when Angélica Mendoza de Ascarza -"Mamá Angélica"- after fruitlessly searching for her son Arquímedes, who had been taken one night by the army, joined with other women searching for their own relatives who had also been detained.  Mamá Angélica organized them to help each other draw attention to their cause and try to bring pressure on the authorities to release their relatives -or their corpses- and to bring those responsible to justice.  Now, thirty years later, they're still waiting for justice, and the fate and location of many of the victims, including Mamá Angélica's Arquímedes, are yet to be revealed.

Anyway, after thirty years of facing down authorities, threats, and every obstacle thrown in their path, the mothers of ANFASEP are not afraid of much, and they generously co-sponsored the event and got the Jesuit Order to provide the meeting space.

Not only did Adelina Garcia, ANFASEP's current president, open the event on Wednesday evening, but as part of it, they invited those attending to visit the ANFASEP's Museum of Memory, which was the first museum in Peru dedicated to exploring the war and to the memory of the victims.

ANFASEP's building on Prolongacion La Libertad, Ayacucho.

The museum houses photos, documents, and artwork related to the war's victims and their relatives' search for justice and reparations, and clothing and other items that belonged to the disappeared.

ANFASEP's first banner and the cross with the inscription "Do Not Kill", which they bore in their early mobilizations.

Mrs. Lidia Flores -standing before a photo of her late husband, Felipe Huamán, and the shirt he was wearing when he was taken by the police in July of 1984- talks about about the night he was taken, the day, a month later, when she discovered and  then secretly recovered and reburied his corpse, and her continuing struggle to gain convictions of the policemen who murdered him.

To say that the museum is moving, and harrowing and inspiring at the same time, understates the impact  on one caused by the exhibits and the courage of the women -mainly- who established and run it and ANFASEP.

Artwork depicting the kitchen which ANFASEP ran to feed 200 war orphans in the 1990s.

Ayacucho: Museo Andrés Avelino Cáceres

Two blocks or so from the market and the archway in downtown Huamanga, on Av. 28 de Julio, there is a small Army-run museum dedicated to the memory of Andrés Avelino Cáceres Dorregaray.

Cáceres was a military officer who rose through the ranks, eventually leading the resistance to the Chilean expeditionary forces invading during the War of the Pacific, and subsequently against the government which signed the Treaty of Ancon, which ended the war.   For these efforts he is regarded as a national hero, and in his own time came to be regarded as an elder statesman, and was called upon to serve as President on three separate occasions.

In 1919 the government awarded Cáceres the rank of Marshall.  He died at Ancon in 1923 at the age of 90.

Though he was born in Huamanga, his home and former estate are in neighboring Huancavelica department.  The museum is located in a casona (colonial mansion) that was the home of the Marquis of Mozobamba, and contains some of the Marquis' belongings in addition to items that belonged to Cáceres and others from the period.

Andrés Avelino Cáceres, wearing the presidential sash

Cáceres' epaulets

Cáceres' medical kit box, used during the Battle of Acuchimay

Cáceres' signature

Casona of the Marquis of Mozobamba

Funerary effigy of either  conquistador Pedro Álvarez Holguín or colonial governor Juan Gutierrez de Quintanilla

Colonial painting, of the Ayacucho School, depicting the Last Supper with guinea pig and chapla-like bread

Museo Andrés Avelino Cáceres
Avenida 28 de Julio #512
Ayacucho, Peru
Tel: +51 066 81 8686

Ayacucho

We just got back from Ayacucho today, to where we had travelled to spend the Independence Day holiday.


We found the town in pretty good shape overall. Many of the colonial buildings in the historic colonial downtown were being gussied up with new plaster and paint. In fact, our family house, built in the 16th or 17th Century, had itself had its facade replastered and painted, with the workmen finishing the job on the morning we arrived.

We took an overnight bus for the 9 hour trip over the western branch of the Andes. The bus, from Transporte Internacional Palomino, was the nicest I've been on. It was a "bus cama" so the seats reclined almost all the way, allowing one to sleep lying down, and the best part was that the cabin was pressurised or had oxygen pumped into it so that this time the trip over the 4746 meter (15,570 foot) high pass at Apacheta did not leave one lightheaded and gasping for breath.

Although the whole of the Apacheta was covered in snow, we arrived in Ayachucho to a bright, sunny dawn.

After dropping off our stuff at the house, we headed to the market for a breakfast of llipta -a creamy cereal made from corn-, bread, and fruit juices.


Then, after resting up a bit, we hired a van and took off to visit the ancient ruins of Wari, and the town and battlefield of Quinua.

On the way we passed the sewage treatment plant, which in typical Ayacuchano humor has been nicknamed "Acapulco", the comedy lying in that aca is the Quechua word for excrement.

The pampa was rather empty even though it was the Independence Day holiday. This was probably due to the government's decision to cancel all parades and official celebrations in response to the AH1N1 flu. The view, however, was all the better with the snowy peaks in the background.

Afterward we headed into the town of Quinua itself for a late lunch -too late, as far as the girls were concerned, as they were tired and suffering from the altitude- and some shopping for some of the ceramics for which the town is famed.

Ayacucho, Carnaval 2008

Here are two short videos taken by Diego of Liz and Co. dancing in the streets and plaza of Ayacucho during Carnaval. If you keep your eyes open you'll also be able to spot Danny and Juan Ramon in the comparsa. They did this for three days and on into the nights, and though it rained often, "it didn't dampen any spirits, just our clothes." The semi-official estimate is that 150 such groups took part in this year's Carnaval festivities.

From Liz

Having just arrived in Lima, Liz is given the traditional welcome at Mi Carcochita, in Lince.
Those are my cousins Diego, on the left, and Juan Ramon.

"We´re in Ayacucho, having arrived on a flight that got us here at 6am.

"As it is Sunday, the town was still sleepy and it took us about an hour and four stops to get a cup of coffee and chaplas con huevo. Cafés either weren´t open or they didn´t have bread or they didn´t have coffee or the water wasn´t hot yet...finally our success came the second time we stopped at a stall in the mercado.

"After that Danny and I did a little shopping...trying to find boxer shorts and T shirts that fit him [his luggage did not arrive in Lima with him] was a true treasure hunt, but we had a bit of success. At least he now has clean calzones, two shirts and a tooth brush. We both got some music and I purchased some fresh wawa from Betty's tia. Yummm...

"Siestas for everyone after that...

"Here I am now. Having a great time, but still thinking of you all. Yesterday was El Dia del Pisco and we celebrated like true peruvians, drinking all types of Pisco drinks at the festival in the park in Surco. We collected a whole bag of cups from the different distilleries, and Danny and I made a purchase or two.


"Poor Toya and Willy..we stopped off to have cuyes afterward, but as we were all thoroughly wasted, I don´t think we were good for business, as we had the table right up front. There was talk of karaoke or dancing, but we all went back to the resi and to bed, having to get up at 2:45 to leave for the airport. Ughh.

"The plane had 20 seats...very small, but we were all so tired, we slept (with the addition of some rhythmic snoring from Juan Ramon). I woke up about a half an hour later to a beautiful sunrise over the Andes."

Food in Ayacucho

Traditional Breads

One of our favourite things to eat in Ayacucho, and one that the entire extended family looks forward to, is Ayacucho bread, specially chaplas. One of the best ways to get chaplas is to walk around the block from the house and get them hot out of the oven nextdoor to the old Cavero cinema. It is great fun to watch the bakers slide the breads in on long boards and flip them onto the hot brick floor of the wood-fired oven, and then scoop them out into large baskets.

Of course, chaplas aren't the only breads made in Ayacucho. Below, the large bread is a wawa. Wawa is an onomatopoeic word meaning "baby" or "child" in Quechua. Originally wawas were made for All Saints Day (Nov. 1st) as a "consolation" for those who had become pregnant nine months earlier during Carnaval. These days wawas are available year-round.

Clockwise from the wawa, three kinds of biscuits, and three sizes of chapla. The larger chapla is very lightly flavored with anise seeds.

Uman Caldo

Uman caldo is a traditional late-night pick me up, and more often, a morning hangover cure. It is made with sheep's heads (uma = 'head' in Quechua). If one comes early enough one can get the good bits, like tongue and cheeks. We arrived late so all we got were bottom jaws and the base of the skull. Not much meat on either of those parts.

This bowl was good, but there's a far better place in Lima, El Soperito in Lince, that serves great uman caldo and it's open 24 hours a day.

Traditional Foods at Urpicha

Urpicha is one of the best-regarded restaurants in Ayacucho, mostly for the quality of the food but also because it was one of the first to focus on offering traditional foods in a nice ambience. Before this, such foods were usually available only at home or in questionable roadside stands or picanterías.

Among the offerings at Urpicha are qapchi, which is fresh cheese mashed and mixed with green onions, rocoto peppers, and the herb huacatay.

Puka picante is a traditional dish of Ayacucho and neighboring departments. Puka = 'red' in Quechua, and picante = 'spicy' in Spanish. Urpicha's is pretty good (but not as good as my Aunt Betty's). Rather than make it with meat mixed in, as is the usual practice, they offer the choice of pork or guinea pig on top to be eaten separately or mixed with the sauce as one desires.

Puka with pork

Puka with guinea pig

Urpicha's signature dish is the homonymic urpicha. The urpicha is a selection of the restaurant's main dishes. At the top, Ayacucho-style guinea pig. Clockwise from there: kernels of mote corn; an onion, carrot, and beet salad usually served at Holy Week; puka with pork chicharrones; stewed beef; fried yellow potatoes; qapchi; and white rice in the center.

The urpicha is meant for one, but two could easily eat from it and be full. I couldn't eat all of mine, but my cousin José finished all of his - after eating half of Guille's guinea pig- and then helped finish my plate! Where does he put it all?

Pollo a la Brasa from Wallpa Sua

Right nextdoor to the house, on Av. Garcilaso de la Vega, is Wallpa Sua. The name is a taken from an insult toward people from Huamanga by those from nearby Huanta. The two towns have been friendly rivals for ages. During the war for independence, for example, Huamanga was independentist while Huantinos tended more toward the monarchy. In later times, a bishop was lynched in Huanta, earning them the sobriquet of mata obispos or 'bishop killers'.

Huantinos, in turn, call Huamanguinos wallpa suakuna or chicken thieves, because the name 'Huamanga' comed from the Quechua word waman, meaning 'hawk.'

The Wallpa Sua restaurant -which surely pays for all of its chickens- offer what is easily the best pollo a la brasa I have eaten anywhere in Peru. Every afternoon, around four o'clock, the neighborhood starts to fill with woodsmoke, as the restaurants staff prepares the fires in time for the wood to turn to white-hot embers by the dinner rush. Then, the scent of herbs and garlic fills the street as the basted and spitted chickens are added.

The chicken can be bought by the 1/4, 1/2, or whole, and comes with fries and a salad.

In adition, the restaurant serves other dishes such as anticuchos (marinate beef heart brochettes), qapchi, steaks, and soups. There is a bar and the walls are decorated with antiques, inclusing an old photo of a large formal gathering in which we discovered the presence of our grandfather Ramón.

Outside, in the patio, there is a firepit, which is a popular spot to sit and chat over drinks, as the kids discovered.