Túpac Katari

Biography

Julián Apasa was born a peasant in the jurisdiction of Sicasica and later moved to the nearby town of Ayo Ayo, working as a trader of coca and baize. An Aymara, he took the name Tupac Katari to honor two earlier rebel leaders: Tomás Katari and Túpac Amaru, executed by the Spanish in 1572. Katari's uprising occurred at the same time as the rebellion of Túpac Amaru II, a cacique who claimed descent from the earlier Túpac Amaru. Unlike Túpac Amaru II, Katari had no traditional claim to leadership, which may have prompted him to associate himself with earlier leaders.

Rebellion against Spanish rule

In Aymara, Katari means 'serpent, large snake'; Amaru means the same in Quechua, and Tupac means 'brilliant, resplendent' in both languages. During his separate rebellion, Túpac Amaru II convinced Quechua speakers to join him, and they fought alongside Aymara-speaking rebels from Puno on Lake Titicaca and the Bolivian side of the lake. The alliance did not last, and Katari led his army alone, claiming to be the viceroy appointed by Túpac Amaru II. In 1781, Katari raised an army of some 40,000 soldiers and laid siege to La Paz on 13 March 1781.

Katari and his wife Bartolina Sisa set up court in El Alto and maintained the siege for one hundred and nine days from March until June. The rebels failed to take La Paz due to fierce resistance and support from troops sent from Buenos Aires. Viceroy Agustín de Jáuregui exploited low rebel morale by offering amnesty, which many rebels accepted, including some leaders. Katari did not accept and went to Achacachi to reorganize his forces, but was betrayed by followers and captured on the night of 9 November 1781.

Execution

The rebels besieged La Paz again in August, joined by Andrés Túpac Amaru, a nephew of Túpac Amaru II romantically linked to Gregoria Apaza, Katari's younger sister. The siege was broken by Spanish colonial troops advancing from Lima and Buenos Aires; 20,000 people died during the siege, which finally ended in October. Katari was executed by Spanish authorities on 15 November 1781. According to oral tradition, his final words were, 'Nayawa jiwtxa nayjarusti waranqa waranqanakawa kutanipxa' — translated from Aymara as 'I die but will return tomorrow as thousand thousands.'

Legacy

Túpac Katari is remembered as a hero by modern indigenous movements in Bolivia, who call their political philosophy Katarismo. A Bolivian guerrilla group, the Túpac Katari Guerrilla Army, also bears his name. Katari had a reputation as a fierce and often violent leader; other rebel leaders testified to his 'homicides and enormous violence,' and he executed people for having 'spoken against him, stolen his property, acted in an overweening fashion, challenged his authority, or humiliated him.' In Bolivia, on 15 July 2005, former President Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé declared through Law No. 3102 'National Aymara Hero and Heroine to Julián Apaza and Bartolina Sisa.' In Argentina, as part of the Bicentennial celebrations, a Gallery of South American Patriots was inaugurated on 25 May 2010, in which Bolivia is represented by portraits of Túpac Katari, Pedro Domingo Murillo, and Bartolina Sisa in the Hall of the Bicentennial Heroes in the Casa Rosada. The first Bolivian telecommunications satellite, Túpac Katari 1, bears his name, and since 2019 his appearance has been incorporated into the new design of the 200 Bolivian banknote.