13 JUNE 1981, Page 17

Bun fighters

Sir: Richard West's articles on the sexcentenary of the Peasants' Revolt have pointed out that some of its leaders in Essex and Kent were bakers by trade. Your veteran gringo reporter Mr West will doubtless recall that 1980-81 is also the bicentenary of the great campesino and mestizo rebellions of Alto Peru, whose most famous leader, Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, raised his standard against the Spanish under the title of Tupac Amaru, the Inca, (and that those utopian guerrillas who later brought down Uruguayan democracy derived their name from this arcadia restorer).

But perhaps Mr West is not aware that the 'Emperor of Paititi' was encouraged to act by the army of Indians in what is now Bolivia who marched on and besieged La Paz. They were led by one Julian Apasa from Hayohayo who was, curiously enough, another baker.

Nicholas Rankin Pakenham, Suffolk