Otuzco Province

The province of Otuzco is one of the twelve that make up the department of La Libertad in northern Peru. It borders on the north with the province of Gran Chimú; to the east, with the department of Cajamarca and the province of Sánchez Carrión; to the south, with the province of Santiago de Chuco and the province of Julcán, and to the west, with the province of Ascope and the province of Trujillo.

History

Otuzco's name

The name Otuzco is very graphic, whether in the Mayan, Yunga, Aymara and Runasimi languages, its meaning is the same.

For the German archaeologist Max Uhle, the name Otuzco is a Central American word of Mayan origin, meaning 'fearful people'.

According to Luis Paz Soldán in his gazetteer, the name of Otuzco is a function of the Aymara voice Huttu which means 'beginning and origin'; and from the Quechua voice osco, whose meaning is 'poor' or 'beggar', so for this author the word Otuzco translates as 'town of poor origin'; likewise for Juan Durand in his Peruvian Etymologies he says that Otz is a radical that in Mayan explains things without value and Otzil means &# 39;miserable, wretched'; Horacio Garmendia explains that rough is a Yunga word meaning 'poor place'.^{[citation required]}

Pedro José González Cueva announces that Otuzco means 'decayed tooth' because of the situation you are in.

The most acceptable hypothesis presented by old Otuzcanos, which they attribute to the place name toshco. But there are also some people who believe that the name Otuzco comes from the name of the tribe of the Tuscos, which were dominated by the Chimús, who are believed to have inhabited a town called Otosco , whose remains are found in the vicinity of the Pollo and Huangamarca rivers, where the cemetery of the city of Otuzco is currently located, on the other hand, there are others who maintain that the name Otuzco derives from Ushco a Quechua name that explains the stones planted in an elongated shape, where beasts of burden are tied; this means 'town of Ushco or of the standing stone'.

One of the explanations of the origin that comes closest to the truth is the one that he ventured to maintain for reasons of coincidence that it derives from the name Orozco (Spanish city) from which they are said to have come the Augustinian Monks came to found the Hermitage, that is why today it is known as the first foundation of the city, built on the slopes of the Chologday hill.

History says that the Augustinian religious were in charge of the evangelization of the wicked, which appear in the Plaza de Armas, the bell tower and the convent, they also marked out the land for the town hall as well as distributed some lots of land for notable neighbors who conquered the place; the Plaza de Armas and some of its streets are cobbled and with cement sidewalks, while at present, others have been built of cement; all these works were designed by the Spanish.

This is how the village of Orozco, today known as Otuzco, was born.

Otuzco and the War of Independence

There are few events of great importance; but in those few, the Otuzco settler has played a preponderant role towards the devotion of the Immaculate Virgin of the Door; This is demonstrated by the events of the time of emancipation when the Otuzcanos inflamed in defense of their faith were naively exploited; his rebellion against the emancipatory cause offering a tenacious resistance after the emancipation of Trujillo.

The resistance to the emancipatory cause occurred because Ramón Noriega (Spanish) owner of the Chota-Motil haciendas, exerted great influence on the Otuzcanos, seduced the mayor Pesantes, instilling false concepts against the patriots, whom he accused of being anti-religious and assailants, and that upon reaching Otuzco they would destroy the Virgen de la Puerta. From that was born that refrain so common in those times among the Otuzcanos:

"Long live the king and his crown!
Death to the thieving homeland!"

Faced with the reaction of the towns of the mountains, Torre Tagle communicated to General San Martín (Huaura) who without further delay sent two divisions to Trujillo. A division of six hundred men goes to Otuzco along the road to Sinsicap under the command of Santa Cruz, to face the two thousand rebels, among them Otuzcanos, Usquilanos, Santiago, Cajamarquinos, who found themselves possessed in the stone of Urmo. It is more or less estimated that between June 7 and 8, 1821, the battle of Otuzco took place, which began in the Urmo stone and lasted more than 7 hours of action, ending with the victory of the patriots of Santa Cruz. Then Santa Cruz made him enter the Otuzco square through the street that today bears the name of La Libertad, taking prisoners the mayor Pesantes, the notary Merino, Moreno and many others.

Noriega Urbapileta and Gavirondo (Spanish) fled, the prisoners were tried and later shot on June 10 of the same year, appeasing the Otuzco insurrection; where, however, acts of violence continued. It is said that Captain Silvestre shot a large number of women and children who sought refuge in the Virgen de la Puerta, and made his artillery fire at the temple, for this reason in the parish children with the surname Silvestre were not allowed to go baptized for which he was known by the synonym of cruelty.

Pacified the Villa de Otuzco and the Otuzcanos convinced of the healthy aspirations of the patriots who fought for a free and sovereign homeland, in the public square they swore the independence of Peru, on June 22, 1821; According to the minutes found in the archives of the Otuzco parish (today disappeared), after all these events Otuzco gave his full support to the emancipatory cause, that is why in 1824 when Bolívar arrived in Otuzco he stayed in a house located in the neighborhood La Hermitage that today is still preserved; from there he addressed General Sucre and Colonel Heres who were in Huaraz, with letters dated April 15, 1824.

Bolívar traveled from Otuzco to Huamachuco, from where he continued his campaign for the Independence of Peru.

Province creation

Thanks to the Otuzcanos, José Corcuera (deputy for the province of Huamachuco) and Enemecio Orbegozo (son of President Mariscal Luis José de Orbegoso y Moncada), who in 1856 had presented a bill, which was not accepted, later they continued to carry out efforts until 1860, when they again presented a second bill, which was accepted by the National Congress on April 17, 1861, the date on which the law for the creation of the province of Otuzco was given., in the department of La Libertad. This law was endorsed by the President of the Republic, Marshal Ramón Castilla, on April 25, 1861 and since then more than a century and a half have passed since its founding as a province.

This same law was the one that divided the province of Huamachuco in two, and the province of Otuzco was created. This law designated Otuzco as the capital of the province, with the title of town and by law of November 15, 1890, this town was elevated to the category of city. Due to the fact that the towns are located at great distances, and make communication difficult, the action of the authorities is how it has been conveniently believed to approve the law for the creation of a new province in the department of La Libertad, called Otuzco.

Otuzco and the war with Chile (1879-1883)

During the War of the Pacific, the towns of Otuzco also suffered looting and barbarism by Chilean soldiers.^{[citation needed]}

The Chileans passed through the city of Otuzco on their trip to Trujillo, after the battle of Huamachuco. The Otuzcanos, fearful of sacrilegious acts by the invader, came to hide the Virgen de la Puerta, burying her with all the innumerable jewelry and ex-votos of hers. Thus they freed her from the outrage, ^{[citation needed ]} because the Chileans made the church her headquarters.

Other episodes

At the time of the constant civil wars that history records, such as the "red" or "blue" caseristas and pierolistas and others.

Several places in the province of Otuzco witnessed the fratricides among Peruvians who longed to conquer the greatest and most luxurious Award, the presidency of the Republic among the places bloodied with the blood of Peruvians, shed by Peruvians, is Cushaymajada and Rogoday.

It was Cushaymajada in the year 1866, in the current José Balta hamlet, where a fierce battle took place between the troops of Colonel José Balta and those of General Febres, from which Balta emerged victorious, thanks to the spiritual help of the Virgen de la Puerta, to whom Balta entrusted himself before entering into contention.

Tradition says that Balta invoked the Virgen de la Puerta and that during the Battle a white dove flew near him giving him courage and that when they ran out of ammunition he was forced to use lamb's huano and with this he defeated his adversary. It is not known to what extent this tradition, synthesized in this couplet sung by blacks and coyas, is true:

«In Cushaymajada,

He won the war, where Balta won

with Borage Huano”

But it is known that when Balta became president of the State, he gave the venerable Virgen de la Puerta a beautiful cloak of tissue and gold, which was embroidered in Paris and which the most excellent gentleman sent to Otuzco through his aides-de-camp on the occasion of the Virgen de la Puerta Fair in December 1870.

Balta's cloak, white and embroidered with gold and precious stones, is still preserved as one of the most valuable testimonies of faith received by the Patroness of Northern Peru, the Virgin of the door.

Geography

It is located in the Sierra region, on an area of 2110.77 km². Its population up to the year 1996 was 87,470 inhabitants and it has a population density of 41.44 inhabitants/km².^{[citation required]}

More than 85% of its population is in rural areas and more than half of its inhabitants are over 15 years of age. Its illiteracy rate is 17.09%.

About 35% of their homes do not have any basic service; and less than 40% of its inhabitants are part of the economically active population, whose most important area of work is agriculture.

Administrative division

It is divided into ten districts:

1. Otuzco: That includes the farms of Allacday, Bellavista, Pampa Grande, Campo Nuevo, Pichampa, Carnachique, Pollo, Cayanchal, Pusunchas, Pango, Ciénego Grande, Samne, Cuyunday, San Franciso del Suro, Chagapampa, San Isidro, El Provenir, San Martín, Huacaday, Sanchique
2. Agallpampa: Includes Carata, Mayday, Cuscanday, Puente Balta, Chual, Sangalpampa, Huangamarca, San Vicente, José Balta, Chota, La Florida, Motil, La Morada, Siguiball, Mariscal Castilla and Yamobamba.
3. Charat
4. Huaranchal: Includes Igor, La Fortuna, Lajón, Chapihual, La Colpa, El Manzano, Huayobamba, El Milagro, El Aliso, La Tuna, La Manzana Alta, La Manzana Baja.
5. La Cuesta: which includes the farms of Nambuque, Caniac, Carcha, Rogoday, La Cuesta.
6. Mache: Includes the farms of Alfonso Ugarte, Bolognesi, Copto, Cruz de Mayo, Chinchango, Campo Bello, Chopta Loma, Huananmarca, La Victoria, Lluín, Machaitambo, San Vicente, Mullamanday, Palconque and Usurbamba
7. Paranday
8. Salpo: It includes the farms of Chepén, Sauco, Chacual, Leoncio Prado, Bellavista and Shulgón.
9. Sinsicap: Its main houses are San Ignacio, Llaguen, Purrupampa, Oscol, Parrapos. There are also the smallest farmhouses like, Rasday, Celavin, Miragon, Chala,
10. Lamp, San Francisco, San Francisco

Capital

The capital of the province is the city of Otuzco. On the next page you can see a very interesting video with shots of the Virgen de la Puerta and residents in different places in the city of Otuzco. The shots date from the late 19th century to the mid XX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LZWDheB0j8.

Otuzco and his region

The city of Otuzco in the department of La Libertad is the capital of the province of the same name. In this region primitively populated by Yungas and Quechuas. Its existence is as old as the appearance of the first human groups in the department of La Libertad.

Throughout history, it has passed through various categories, first that it was only a name, then parish, parish, town and at the advent of the Republic, when the province of Otuzco was created, it rose to the legal category of Town. Currently, it holds the category of city, by law of November 15, 1890.

Otuzco is an Andean city populated by the descendants of the ancient names of Peru, whose blood mixed with those who came from Spain, since the first years of Spanish domination. Its population is currently mestizo and its urban appearance has changed a lot since 1940, its people have also evolved from the old men who make up the groups of society.

New faces circulate through the streets, their old children are gone, some of their traditional customs have been lost. But as a conception conditioned by this transformation, peasant customs have broken into them due to their buildings with narrow doors and windows and capriciously made narrow doors and windows and capriciously made, without respecting the urban outline, due to their peasant ways of living aimed at achieving of immediate materials, which allow men to ascend to the highest places in society; with the rural performance that is manifested in the ostentation of dressing, in the rusticity of the treatment and that it is enough to know that they are the majority in the human group of the city.

The city suffers the current process of change produced by the irruption of peasants into urban life. "The new waves" of the hectic process of transculturation in which we live.

From this city, whose children leave on May 1st of each year to master customs and "feel" the sunrise to look at broader horizons and who are capable of being their own masters; Otuzco has its origin in the spread of the Christian faith; It is the creation of the Augustinian fathers who entered this department and its excellent geographical location that has given it the destiny of being the gateway to the interior of Libertad and the exit to the Libertad coast. The origin of the Spanish Otuzco.

The Hermitage, in effect, was the germinal cell of Otuzco, as the tradition tells. There still exist the remains of the old Chapel of the Augustinians who chose the place as a sense of strategy since from there it is called the old indigenous since from there it is called the old indigenous town of Tupullo. As well as the ravines of the Huangamarca and Pollo rivers, and of Otuzco in a wide sector; it has water from the Puquio spring and farmland on its periphery, that is, all the necessary conditions to be the germinal seed of a city, where tired travelers would find and continue to find peace for their wanderings and spiritual comfort for earthly anguish.

The engineer Armas publishes in the "regional" about ancient documents that still exist from these primitive Augustinians, he assures that since he implanted the first cross, a symbol of the Catholic faith, in this nascent town of Otuzco, he deigned as their patron saint and protector of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary; This is attested by the first certificates in the most fortunate remote existing in the parish archive, such as the first marriage certificate issued by Fr. Pedro de la Fuente in February 1611, and the first baptism certificate recorded by the same religious on February 9 of the same year in which the indigenous Francisco Pachacamango de la Pacaha de Uchuc put the baptismal water; game that starts the same way. It is thus that the documentation of the file this town of Otuzco was progressing.

So much so that the documentation exists on the indigenous people of this city whose birth probably dates back more than 370 years.

Authorities

Regionals

• Regional adviser
  • 2019-2022: Gonzalo Alfredo Rodríguez Espejo (Alianza para el Progreso)

Municipals

2019-2022

• Mayor: Prof. Heli Adam Verde Rodríguez of the Democratic Party We are Peru(Sm).
• Regidores: Gregorio Sandoval Prado, Jhonder Villegas Ibánez, Gilberto Euclides Ibáñez Gonzales, Johnny Edgardo Otiniano Armas, Edgar Perales Herrera, Walter Andrés Alayo Chávez, Mirian Aída Gutiérrez Contreras, Federico Álvaro Castillo Gutiérrez, Deysi Mireli Ávalos Contreras

• 2015-2018
  • Mayor: Luis Rodríguez Rodriguez, of the National Restoration Party (RN).

Police

• Commissioner: Major PNP Eduardo Ramiro Mas Ganoza

Religious

• Archdiocese of Trujillo
  • Archbishop of Trujillo: Monsignor Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, OFM.

Festivities

• Virgin of the Gate (from 13 to 16 December)
• Anniversary of Canon Coronation (25, 26 and 27 October)

Educational Institutions

• Our Lady of Assumption Teacher Training Institute
• Instituto Superior Tecnológico de Otuzco