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Huascar Inca (?-1532)
 "He was quite given to all the vices and most of all to drink... While drunk he would do a thousand foolish things... If he fancied one of the wives of the lords who were there with him, he would have her placed in the nearest room and would sleep with her. If any lords would come and attempt to stop him, he would have him killed later". (Juan de Betanzos - 1557)
Huascar, meaning "rope"
or "chain", was the eldest surviving son of Inca Huayna Capac. The lords of Cuzco who appointed him Inca soon regretted their decision, as Huascar defiled the temples of his forefathers and treated his people cruelly.
Peaceful overtures from his brother Atahualpa,
governing far away in Quito, were rejected by Huascar, who even
had Atahualpa's messenger killed and his skin made into a war
drum. Huascar soon ordered his armies to attack Atahualpa forces,
saying "Bring me his head because I wish to drink from the skull... If you do not bring it to me, none of you should return, for if you do I will tear you all to pieces".
Huascar's forces were initially successful and even captured Atahualpa, who soon escaped. But Huascar was an unreliable leader and his military tactics and mistreatment of his generals proved to be his undoing. His armies were ultimately defeated and Huascar was led in captivity towards Atahualpa in Cajamarca. But Atahualpa himself was by that time a captive of the Spaniards and, fearful of a rival Inca appearing in Cajamarca, ordered Huascar to be killed en route by his guards.
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