Witness to the Age of Revolution by Walker Charles F.; Clarke Liz;

Author:Walker, Charles F.; Clarke, Liz;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Published: 2020-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

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1Juan Bautista errs repeatedly about his age, calling himself an octogenarian when in fact he was still in his seventies. This seems an understandable mistake for someone who had no access to written records about his life and times. Perhaps he added a few years to increase the drama of his story. Only the most coldhearted reader could criticize him for this.

2Juan Bautista get some facts wrong about the rebellion, particularly the execution of his brother and Micaela Bastidas in 1781. This makes sense—he did not witness these events and tells the story more than forty years later. As Francisco Loayza argued in his 1941 edition of the memoirs, these discrepancies and minor errors actually support the argument that Juan Bautista was the author. It is natural that he got some details wrong. Francisco Loayza, Cuarenta años de cautiverio, 22.

3The excruciating torture with the strappado, or garrucha, took place on late April 29 and the execution on May 18, 1781. Walker, The Tupac Amaru Rebellion, 156–167.

4Fourteen miles a day is a respectable pace in this mountainous area, but slow for rural folk such as Juan Bautista and Susana Aguirre.

5Juan Bautista refers to horses but other documents mention mules.

6Juan Bautista twice uses the term impresiones, the notion that negative feelings or experiences could worsen one’s health. It might have been related to the indigenous concept of susto, the notion that the soul leaves the body after a trauma or fright, prompting lethargy and ennui.

7José de Córdova y Ramos de Garay (1732–1815) had a long career in the Spanish Navy, both in the Indies fleet as well as in frequent wars with England; Diccionario Biográfico electrónico, s.v. “José de Córdova y Ramos de Garay,” accessed December 9, 2019, http://dbe.rah.es/biografias/15033/jose-de-cordova-y-ramos-de-garay.

8I have kept the term Americanos, referring to all people born in the Americas, rather than translating it to Americans. The latter might lead readers to think of the United States, an unfortunate but prevalent interpretation. Juan Bautista was proud of his friendship with figures such as the Maltese Argentine Juan Bautista Azopardo or the Bolivian Mariano Subieta and understood that Americano solidarity helped get his beloved Marcos Durán Martel and him out of Ceuta and to freedom in Argentina. In fact, he closes by underlining how much Americanos could learn from Durán Martel’s example of selfless generosity.

9Francisco Loayza contends that Juan Bautista spoke Spanish well but endeavored to become more literate. In this passage, Juan Bautista exaggerates his ignorance of Spanish. Loayza, Cuarenta años de cautiverio, 52–54.

10Agustín Argüelles (1776–1844) was a leading Spanish Liberal. An important figure in the Cádiz Parliament, he was imprisoned in Ceuta in 1814 with the return of King Ferdinand VII.

11The Spanish–British conflict over Gibraltar impeded Spanish ships in this part of the Mediterranean in these years.

12Juan Bautista seems to describe a nervous breakdown.

13Azopardo was a Maltese Argentine navy commander who fought for Argentina during the War of Independence.

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