A pleasant town in a broad green valley in northern Peru, Cajamarca is the site of one of history's great betrayals. Some 200 yards from the main square, through a Spanish colonial doorway, stands a stone building known as the "Ransom Room". Though this particular building may in fact have been his prison, in 1532 Atahualpa, the Inca ruler, offered to fill such a room with gold artefacts in order to win freedom from his conquistador captors. He kept his side of the bargain-but was murdered anyway. Now, once again, some people in Cajamarca complain that Peru's gold is being carried off by foreigners—and they are trying to stop it.
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