| Sumario: | This article asks how Guaman Poma's notion of poverty shapes his political language. It argues that he identifies the lack of food as the most pressing form of poverty and that he focuses on its solution by narrating the rise of communal possession for the effective relief of hardships, specifically the emergence of the Andean tradition of public meals and the establishment of the sapsi , the endowment of dry goods, lands, and woven cloths for the sustenance of local communities. The conquest disrupted the sapsi , which generated serious problems for the disadvantaged and gave rise to "the poor of Jesus Christ," whom Guaman Poma fiercely defends. This paper contends that he relied on the legal and theological privileges of the poor to apply their tenets to justify the preservation of the sapsi and urge the Spanish sovereign to directly succor the poor. Finally, his reflections on poverty have a personal dimension. According to his autobiographical remarks, he voluntarily embraced a life of poverty, which gave him unique insights into what only the poor could understand. How did Guaman Poma's notion of poverty shape his political language? He identified the lack of food as the most pressing form of poverty and focused on its solution by narrating the rise of communal possession for the relief of hardships, specifically through the Andean tradition of public meals and the sapsi , the endowment of dry goods, lands, and woven cloths to sustain local communities. The conquest disrupted the sapsi , generating serious problems for the disadvantaged and giving rise to "the poor of Jesus Christ," who Guaman Poma fiercely defended. He relied on the legal and theological privileges of the poor to apply their tenets to justifying the preservation of the sapsi and urge the Spanish sovereign to directly succor the poor. Finally, his reflections on poverty have a personal dimension: he voluntarily embraced a life of poverty, which gave him unique insights into what only the poor could understand.
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