Guaicaipuro

Guacaipuro or Guaicaipuro was a chief from Venezuela mentioned by the writer José de Oviedo y Baños, who is popularly known as the Guacaipuro chief. According to the work History of conquest and population of the province of Venezuela, this character was born in an indigenous settlement in the region of Los Teques, Venezuela, around 1530, and died in 1568. The work of Oviedo y Baños says that the character was a native who led several Caribbean tribes, with the title Guapotori, "Chief of Chiefs", in a fight for control of the mines of gold from Los Teques.

Unlike documented characters such as the Guaicamacuto and other "Guaica" (word that means "Greater of the" or "Head of the"), there are no documents or historical records that prove or give indications that there was a Guaicaipuro or someone with that title. ^{[citation needed]} Therefore, the Venezuelan history academy treats the issue very tactfully.

Guacaipuro is one of the central figures of Venezuelan spiritualism along with María Lionza.

Biography

Guaicaipuro was a cacique and warrior chief, of taima origin. Raised by the chief Catuche of the Teques tribe, he had two sisters named Tiaora and Caycape. When Catuche died, Guaicaipuro went on to lead the tribe at only 20 years of age. He married Urquía, and his place of residence and headquarters was located in Suruapo, in the vicinity of Paracotos. He had three children, among them Baruta, who received the headdress with red feathers from his mother after his father died in combat.

Guaicaipuro (from "guaica", spike, and "pur", roasted), that is, "roasted spike". Also the particle "guaica" It is equivalent to the name of an aboriginal weapon, luck of a very pronounced rod at one end.

Guaicaipuro had defeated experienced and hardened Spanish military leaders, among whom we can mention Colonel Juan Rodríguez Suárez, Admiral Diego García de Paredes, Captain Luis Narváez and Francisco Fajardo. He formed a powerful coalition with various groups from the central region of the country, especially in the Valley of Caracas, to face the Spanish conquest of the territory of present-day Venezuela. There he acquired the title of & # 34; Chief of Chiefs & # 34; or "Guapotori" He directed the caciques Tiuna, Naiguatá, Guaicamacuto, Chacao, Terepaima, Catia, Aramaipuro, Paramaconi and his own son Baruta, among others. Currently, Guacaipuro is one of the most famous and illustrious caciques, a symbol of indigenous resistance.

History

The area currently occupied by the city of Los Teques was populated by several indigenous groups, each of which had its own cacique. The Guaicaipuro tribe—covering an area from Turgua in the east to where San José de los Altos is today in the west—was one of the largest. One of his sons, Baruta, also became a cacique and dominated the area of the current municipality of the same name. Other daughters of Guaicaipuro were apparently Tiora and Caycape. The Spanish discovered gold in the area of Los Teques around 1560 and, as they began to populate the mine site to extract it, Guaicaipuro, feeling his land invaded, attacked them along with other allied caciques, among them Terepaima, and forced the Spanish to leave the place. After the attack, the governor of the province of Venezuela, Pablo del Collado, sent Juan Rodríguez Suárez from El Tocuyo in 1561 to pacify the area. Rodríguez Suárez, believing that he had achieved his task in repelling Guaicaipuro from the area, leaves the area in the care of some miners and three of his sons, while he explores the Caracas border. Once the Spanish soldiers had left the place, Guaicaipuro stormed the mines again and killed all the workers, as well as the sons of Rodríguez Suárez. Immediately after that, Rodríguez Suárez, who was on his way to the city of Valencia with the purpose of meeting with the Spanish loyal to the king, who were trying to stop the rebel leader Lope de Aguirre —known in Venezuela as El Tirano de los conquistadores del Perú, who came from the Amazon in 1561 and rose up against the Crown, was ambushed by Guaicaipuro and the chief Terepaima, who killed him during his journey. He was with a small contingent of six soldiers.

Cacique Guaicaipuro.

After these events, Guaicaipuro became the main and central figure in the uprising of all the native tribes of the province of Caracas, and managed to unite them all under his command. In 1562, Terepaima defeated an expeditionary force led by Captain Luis de Narváez, killing him and 150 of the expedition members. Due to fierce attacks by the natives, the Spanish withdrew far from the area for several years.

In 1567, shortly after defeating the Indigenous Confederation led by Guaicaipuro in the battle of Maracapana, Captain Diego de Losada entered the San Francisco Valley and that year or the following one populated the city of «Santiago de León de the Caracas». The Spaniards were concerned about the close presence of Guaicaipuro and his men and, given the fame of his attacks on the conquistadors, they decided not to expect an attack from him, so, as a preventive move, Diego de Losada entrusted the mayor of the city, Francisco de Infante undertake the mission of capturing Guaicaipuro and 'pacify' the other Caciques.

Death

At the end of 1567 or the beginning of 1600, Francisco Infante and his men, led by native guides, found the whereabouts of the Guacaipuro hut, in Paracotos. According to legend, Guaicaipuro set his hut on fire and committed suicide before allowing the Spanish to find him alive. However, the other version of his death, which is the one offered by the historian José de Oviedo y Baños in his work published in 1723, narrates that after a long battle for his life, the Spaniards, unable to enter the hut, decided to throw a fire bomb on the thatched roof, thereby forcing Guacaipuro to leave, who perishes fighting with the sword that he had won from Rodríguez Suárez.

All these data are taken from the work of Oviedo y Baños, History of the conquest and population of the Province of Venezuela, who is the only one who offers these details of Guaicaipuro. There are few documents copied from others from 1585, which mention Guaicaipuro in passing as a simple cacique of the Teques, but his role as heroic leader of the indigenous resistance of Caracas is only supported by the narration of the historian José de Oviedo y Baños, who he writes about these events in 1723. In fact, Oviedo is the one who narratively initiates the historical existence of Guaicaipuro as leader of the indigenous resistance.

Tributes

The legacy of Guaicaipuro is very latent in the central zone of the country, specifically in squares and streets of Caracas and Miranda State.

• Guaicaipuro municipality of Miranda State.
• Guaicaipuro, choreographic drama of María Luisa Escobar that was premiered in 1951, on the occasion of the celebration of the third Bolivarian Olympic Games, based on the life of the homonymous cacique.
• "Guaicaipuro de Oro", a prize that was awarded to radio and television artists.
• Guaicaipuro Mission: Government programme aimed at delimiting the ancestral territories of the indigenous peoples of Venezuela and restoring their civil rights.
• The remains of the Cacique Guaicaipuro entered the "Panteón Nacional" of Caracas, on December 8, 2001, in a symbolic commemoration.