Excerpts From Runa Soncco, the Defunct Journal of the Rijcharismo Movement in Peru (1935–1945) [Note: Runa Soncco is the defunct journal of the Rijcharismo (to awaken) movement in Peru (1935–1945). Manuel Núñez Butrón was the editor and principal writer, often using pseudonyms or writing in the third person. His sanitary brigade shared the messages within Runa Soncco with the Indigenous of the altiplano (high Andes), the intended audience. The translated excerpts here were written by Núñez Butrón and illustrate critical elements of Rijcharismo. Terms are translated as originally printed (e.g., “Indian,” “Indigenous,” and “aboriginal”), though today we use the word “Indigenous.” Digitized editions of Runa Soncco are viewable at https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/runasoncco.]
From Runa Soncco 3 (1935): 12.
Bibliographical Notes: Runa Soncco.
Doctor Manuel Núñez Butron [sic: Butrón], who is in the city of Juliaca, an important railway and business hub in southern Peru, publishes a journal called Runa Soncco (Indian Heart), the third issue of which has reached our hands.
The project that Doctor Manuel Núñez Butrón has undertaken is a highly praiseworthy cultural effort. It disseminates rural health information to the indigenous population of the Puno region, where more than half a million sons and daughters of the soil reside. The Rijcharys (“Awakeners”), a group of pioneers devoted to Indian physical and intellectual improvement, have expanded this mission to monitor all forms of progress in the aboriginal race. To a large extent, Runa Soncco is the public face of these Indians who are committed to the task of eliminating the vices that reduce their peers to ruin. It combats their illiteracy and ignorance, their customary attitude of resignation, and their lack of hygiene as it strives to strengthen and empower them.
The issue we have includes the work of the Rijcharis, or community organizers, in their crusade to improve local living standards; it also features an article entitled “Impressions of an Indian”, a noteworthy insight into the Indian mindset.
The effort clearly employed by Runa Soncco reflects in turn the work being done in the altiplano of Puno by a group of men who are deeply involved in the generous task of educating the Indians. It deserves whole-hearted approval and support, as it is of great importance to our nation and its people.
From Runa Soncco 3 (1935): 6.
The Head Community Physician.
The epidemics that do the most to decimate our people find their origin in our most ignorant masses. These masses need educating to achieve peace in civilized areas. Prevention is better than cure, and prevention requires education.
For example, in San Román over the last 3 years or so, we have vaccinated around 22 000 people against smallpox and we can say that smallpox is soon to disappear from the province. If we could vaccinate the entire province, we would surely triumph.
Now we are left with typhus. To exterminate it, we must exterminate lice, and to do this we must fight its main sources. However, doctors need the support of educated people, yet many are waging a campaign against us.
The idea of exterminating lice may seem like a dream, but there are countries where endemic typhus is unknown and medical books do no more than mention it in passing. We should all fight the danger of typhus as we would go to war against enemies attempting to flatten our borders, or as we would fight a powerful river that has set out to sweep away our towns or a fire that is trying to turn all the dwellings in our neighborhoods to ash. . . .
From Runa Soncco 6 (1937): 159.
RIJCHARY, which translates as AWAKE, is the herald of our acts, with which we say RIJCHARY! to those who are overcome by vice and ignorance, those who carry the banner of filth and bear the label of the louse-ridden. RIJCHARY! is what we say to those who think they are cultured, because we know that they still have a long way to go. RIJCHARY! is what we say to those who pretend to have a new personality and don’t realize that only a mirror is the best jury to teach them the culture of their ancestors. RIJCHARY! is what we say to the child, the youth, and the elder — whether rich or poor — because we need to wake up every hour and every minute of our lives.
From Runa Soncco 7 (1937): 27.
The Rijchary appointment, 1937.
A Rijchary [Awake!] must speak to those who are poor, ragged, louse-ridden, unwashed, and devoid of will to encourage them to work, stay clean, and have the increased initiative that they need to progress.
A Rijchary must speak to those who have already acculturated so they don’t forget who their people are. This is because it is so often true that the worst enemy of an Indian is an acculturated Indian.
A Rijchary must say and demonstrate that even the most humble person in an ayllu [Indigenous cultural community] can, through honest work and perseverance, become the most distinguished person in our nation. Similarly, someone who is acculturated but focuses only on his or her own future can fall from the highest echelons to the lowest rank of any ayllu or any town.
A Rijchary must speak out to make people aware of the origin of their own people and prove that we are among the most intelligent and strongest societies in the world.
A Rijchary must speak out to demonstrate that thousands of years ago here in our Altipampa [high plateau of Andes] we were left monuments that are now admired by the whole world. These show us by example how we can become like our forebears.
A Rijchary must teach pride in being an Indian, a cultured Indian worthy of respect anywhere in the world.
A Rijchary must be against excesses of alcohol and coca, and instead in favor of pencils, paper, and soap.
A Rijchary must show that unclean Indians get kicked around, clean Indians are treated with respect, and those who can read are treated with even more respect.
A Rijchary respects property and stands against any form of scheming.
A Rijchary teaches strict compliance with the laws of the country; and if any laws are not suitable for our region, we must study so that someday we can show people what it is that we require.
A Rijchary teaches a love for our land, our heritage, and everything that makes up our nationality; at the same time we support mixing with other cultures for the sake of improvement; cultures are like plants that need to be transplanted to increase their yield.
Those who act in accordance with these concepts are true Rijcharys. Now they can become official administrators of vaccines; they can speak out against lice; they can shave bearded faces; they can proclaim the importance of schools; they can reform housing; and they can encourage the masses so that we may regrow. . . .
From Runa Soncco, 8 (1945): 2.
Runa Soncco Returns.
Following a lengthy forced silence, the periodical by Indians, and for Indians only, is back. . . . Once again, Runa Soncco will awaken us from our solitary lives. It encourages us to turn every house into a school; all who can read into teachers; and every teacher into an apostle.