Oppression of the Natives by the Ruling Elite in Latin Ameri
The Clorinda Matto de Turner novel Birds Without a Nest exposes the theme of absolute rule by elites in local communities in late colonial Latin America. These authority figures, as expressed by Turner, tell the reader "in these parts of the world, the victims that escape the hands of the priest fall into the power of the authorities and ...if we fix our eyes on the Indians, the heart grows desperate before the oppression which they endure from the priest and the caciques (128)." This theme is one that is recurring in Latin America in the late colonial periods. In Turner's novel, the four local authorities; the Priest, Sub-Prefect, Judge and the Governor control the town of Killac; all oppress the native Indians in order to maintain a lifestyle that they are accustomed too. In the following paper, I would like to analyze how local authorities manipulate society in order to benefit themselves, through techniques such as debt peonage, demoralizing the natives, and controlling the local laws.Early in the novel, the audience finds out about priestly corruption and suppression of Native Indians. This is evident when Father Pascual imposes an embargo on the Yupanqui family crops due to a loan provided to cover a burial of Marcela's mo
Another notable example of the local authority oppression of natives is the Elite's control of the local legal system. This is evident when Escobedo, a local cacique, requests payment from Martina, a native woman, in order to help free her husband from jail. Escobedo's request for this "noble" action is the payment of four cows. Immediately, Escobedo consults Estefano Benites, the judge, to see whether the Indian should be liberated, after again promising Martina that Isidro would be freed. To this, the Judge replies that "it would not suit us for him to get out just now, we will humbug him for a month or so...then we will take four more cows or so (134)." This deceiving nature is once again a method of the local elite to gain from the benevolence of the natives, who at times are confused and don't know who to consult when they face difficult situations. When proceedings like this occurred in Latin America, the local caciques tended to take advantage of the natives and lower class people in society. ther-in-law. This results with a collector pursuing Juan Yupanqui, a native Indian, to pay a ten-dollar loan, which with the five hundred percent interest, grew into a one hundred twenty-dollar debt. Such "distributions in advance (10)" represent one of the ways the local caciques try to force the native peoples to pay their labor. However, due to the high interest, the debt is almost impossible to eliminate. This forces the natives to provide some sort of payment to the lender for indefinite periods of time. Treatment such as this toward natives was quite common throughout Latin America in the late Colonial Period since there were no local banks established and local priests and caciques in need of labor would often find other ways to force the natives in
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Approximate Word count = 1190
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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