One can imagine how the Vicunans must've felt. Furious, terrified, and full of disbelief, they slowly walked back to their homes. Somehow (no living sources can tell us exactly how it happened), the bulk of the villagers came to a central location. Conversation began, sharing their newfound helplessness. How could this happen? What would they do? Where could they go? How did General Toro have the right to do this? One young man, Renaldo Ormin, seemed the angriest.

It is in these crucial, defining moments that we see how painfully lacking the history of Vicuna is. We have no clear memories of the impassioned speech that Renaldo gave. There are no specific records of the debates that lasted long into the night. We have no eyewitnesses to tell us how each villagers face changed from hopelessness to wonder and finally, to grim resolution. There is no description of how it became a final decision: the Vicunans would secede from Chile. They would form their island into a new nation. And they would defend it with their lives.