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1572 - Provocation in Vilcabamba

MapUnaware of these changes in Vilcabamba, Viceroy Toledo continued his attempts at negotiation. A peaceful expedition led by Prior Gabriel de Oviedo approached Vilcabamba but was unable to make contact with any of the Vilcabamba natives. Tupac Amaru was not yet willing to reveal the death of Titu Cusi.

The impatient Viceroy eventually sent an emissary, one Atilano de Anaya, with a message containing a thinly veiled threat to the Inca, still supposed to be Titu Cusi: "If you have faith and loyalty to the service of God... as you have said you have, you must demonstrate this by actually coming out [of Vilcabamba]... and if not, we shall certainly be disabused of any illusions. The necessary future arrangements can then be made..."

When Anaya approached the Chuquichaca bridge, the usual entry point into the Vilcabamba valley, he meet with some warriors who asked him to wait whilst they took news of his arrival to the Inca. Fearful that Anaya would discover the truth about Titu Cusi and wanting to exclude all Spanish influence from Vilcabamba, the warriors did not wait for a reply from Tupac Amaru but panicked and "killed him with their lances, dragged him out and threw him down a ravine".

Anaya's negro servant escaped and relayed the news to Cuzco. This was all the provocation that the Viceroy Toledo needed: one Spaniard killed by the natives of Vilcabamba. "Once he was certain [of Anaya's death] the Viceroy [Toledo] took great pains to learn the strength of the Inca in every way." Once again, the treachery of local tribes betrayed the Inca: "They informed him of the roughness of the road, of the bad passages and mountains where the Indians kept supplies of boulders which they rolled onto those who passed..."

Toledo roused the citizens of Cuzco and with their support "resolved to be rid of that robbers' den and scarecrow bogey, and to launch total war on the Inca..." On Palm Sunday, 14 April 1972, Toledo "ordered the proclamation of a war of fire and blood" against Vilcabamba.