In this article, the writer Ernesto More (1897–1980) discusses the Monumento a los Próceres y Precursores de la Independencia del Perú [Monument to the Heroes and Harbingers of Peruvian Independence], by the Peruvian sculptor Joaquín Ugarte y Ugarte, that was erected in Lima in 1971. He mentions the debate about the national competitions that had been held since 1970 to find a winning design for a monument honoring José Gabriel Condorcanqui, Túpac Amaru II (1738–81), the indigenous hero of Peruvian independence, to be installed in the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco, where he was executed. Túpac Amaru II was an Inca chieftain who, in 1780, led the rebellion of the Andean people against the Spanish Empire. After languishing in the relative obscurity of traditional Peruvian historiography, his image was appropriated by the military regime led by Juan Velasco Alvarado (1968–75), at a time when the government was pioneering social reforms and exploring the use of icons as symbolic expressions of the regime and its aims.
The competition was launched three times, but each one was declared void. A fourth attempt resulted in the awarding of the prize to Ugarte y Ugarte, however, his equestrian statue was never installed in the Plaza de Armas. Some criticized the decision based on the incongruity of the colonial environment of the plaza, and particularly since the hero was drawn and quartered there by horses. The horses in the monument prompted one of More’s complaints, and suggested an analogy based on the myth of Inkari: the Inca king who was also dismembered by the Spanish. In 1973, this oral tradition—which More does not mention—provided the name for one of the largest and most successful art festivals organized by the self-styled Gobierno Revolucionario de las Fuerzas Armadas Peruanas [see the following unattributed article in the ICAA digital archive: “Reintegración. Inkari: un reencuentro esperado” (doc. no. 1139039)].
