Mestizo Alejo | |
---|---|
Birth name | Alejandro de Vivar |
Nickname(s) | Alejo, Mestizo Alejo, Ñancu (Mapudungun) |
Born | 1635 Chile |
Died | 1660 (aged 24–25) Chile |
Allegiance | Spanish Empire (until 1656) Mapuche (1656–1660) |
Service/ | Army of Arauco |
Rank | Toqui |
Military conflicts | Mapuche uprising of 1655 Battle of Conuco |
Relations | Various wives |
Alejandro de Vivar (1635–1660), better known as Mestizo Alejo, was a Chilean mestizo, who fought in the Arauco War. He was the son of the Mapuche cacique Curivilú and the Spanish Isabel de Vivar y Castro who was captured during a Mapuche raid. Isabel and Alejo were rescued five years later and rejoined the Spanish society. Alejo enlisted the Spanish army, but the system of castas prevented his promotion. As a result, he deserted from the Spanish army and joined the Mapuches, being appointed toqui. Instructed in Spanish military strategy, he posed a serious threat to his former masters, but he died in a crime of passion: after he had sex with a captured Spanish woman his two wives murdered him.