Reflecting on Punchauca: memory and commitment to a failed encounter at the ruins of an emblematic monument

Abstract

One year after concluding the commemoration of the Bicentennial of Peru's Independence (1824), the pivotal moments and a myriad of events that wove the complex phenomenon of Peru's emancipation are becoming clearer. Undoubtedly, one of these moments was the meeting at Punchauca, a failed yet hopeful attempt at understanding through dialogue and peace. It seems evident that it was an initiative of the Spanish government during the Liberal Triennium, which gave La Serna specific instructions to negotiate and how San Martín was willing to engage in such negotiations. After twenty years of readings, conferences, and voluntary work in cultural heritage, I wish to shed some light on this event and propose some ideas for the recovery of the emblematic monument (huaca-chapel-hacienda-house), now in ruins.