In the middle of the 17th century, he led political negotiations with the colonizers of Quito, obtaining the recognition of four cacicazgos and the dialogue with the Spanish Crown on issues such as the payment of taxes, land titles and the supervision of the peonazgo ( peonage) in haciendas.
Four cacicazgos have been recognized by the Spanish crown:
- Cacicazgo de Toribío, to the north, which included the districts of San Francisco, Toribío, Tacueyó and the Rio Palo valley.
- Cacicazgo de Pitayó, in the center, with the towns of Pitayó, Jambaló, Caldono, Quichaya and Vitoyó.
- Cacicazgo de Togoima, south of Tierradentro, with the petitscacicazagos of Yutuc (Calderas), Apirama, Yaquiva, Pisimbalá and Ambosta, later the partialities of Cohetando, Schitoris (Ricaurte) and Santa Rosa were founded.
- Cacicazgo de Vitoncó, north of Tierradentro, made up of the districts of Tálaga, Mesa de Tóez, Buila and Suin. This cacicazgo was recognized as the main nucleus of the Paeces.
With the territorial recognition of the four cacicazgos, Juan Tama continued his political work within his community by achieving the unification of the Paeces against the desires of Spanish domination.
For this political purpose, Juan Tama claimed a supernatural origin to acquire a sacred space given by the religious feeling of his people and thus power over the territory. He became known as Juan Tama de la Estrella, who possessed the divine gifts of his grandmother, La Estrella, and had appeared floating in the lagoon among the vineyards, being rescued by shamans.
For the Paeces, this leader was the guide in the search for balance between the divine and the natural. His authority, recognized and respected, allowed him to establish two rules for the interaction of the indigenous people as a community with other groups:
“The laws of the dominator are contradictory, because they are made by the exploiters to favor, when in fact what they seek is to exploit. Despite this, these laws can be used by the Indian in his favor, when the exploiters are divided or against them.
In 1702, Juan Tama on territorial autonomy
(Los paeces)… "will firmly oppose and, in any event, dispossess the settlers who take their lands as the owners that they are... both in this case, that with the lands which have been given to them in possession, they will defend with the documents granted to them and will fight until they take them cleanly”
Cabildos, which were initially formed to concentrate natives in a certain area to facilitate their indoctrination and tax collection, were used by natives to maintain their own forms of organization, authority figures such as the governor and gendarme having to work under the direction of the traditional doctor.
According to one legend, after leaving his people the guidelines for coexistence and defense against the colonizers, he returned to the lagoon where he was born, promising to return there if necessary: “I will go and live in the lagoon, I will never die.”
The Juan Tama Lagoon is located in the Moras páramo, indigenous resguardo of Mosoco, municipality of Belarcázar, department of Cauca, Colombia. It is considered a sacred place, with rituals of consecration and purification of the staffs of command, symbol of indigenous authority, since from this place was born, according to legend, Juan Tama and he returned to rest in its waters with his partner.
