Sinayuca was a class collaborator

This week we read an article about Eugenio Sinayuca, a kuraka from the same region (around Cuzco) as the famed rebel (rebel) Tupac Amaru.  When Tupac Amaru stepped up to rebel against the (local, anyway) Spanish government, Sinayuca did not step up with him.  And the reason he did not step up with him was not because he was a supporter of Spanish rule.  In fact, he was resolutely anti-Spanish rule.  He did not rebel due to petty personal politics.  He was allied with a local corregidor, Antonio de Arraiga, and Tupac Amaru was an enemy of the said corregidor.  Nevermind that this particular corregidor was famous for his abuses of the reparto.  In addition, Tupac was allied with the local bishop, who had excommunicated Sinayuca because of his support for Arraiga.  Sinayuca apparently valued his personal relationship (who was, again, a noted abuser of power) over the possibility of throwing off Spanish rule.  He may have felt that the few communities he governed were better off in servitude and destitution by mita than possibly harmed fighting for their freedom.  One wonders how many other class collaborators acted due to similarly petty reasons.  Might the rebellion have succeeded if these corrupted betrayers of their own people had been braver?  Of course we’ll never know.

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