The workers had marched into town to protest their working conditions and wages. Somewhere between 500 and 2,000 people were killed. The folk group Quilapay�n recorded an album in remembrance of the event (Cantata Santa Mar�a de Iquique) in 1970. In December 2007 a series of cultural and ceremonial activities were planned, culminating in the week between 14 to 21 December, to commemorate the centenary year of the massacre.
Prior to becoming Chilean territory, Iquique was home to some of the greatest Peruvian heroes, namely Alfonso Ugarte (who was elected Mayor in 1876), Ramon Zavala, a rich saltpeter entrepreneur; Guillermo Billinghurst, later President of Peru (who after being overthrown in 1914 came to Iquique - then already under Chilean rule - to live out his last years), and Ramon Castilla, three times president of Peru, who was born in San Lorenzo de Tarapac� and died in the Desert of Tiviliche, Tarapac�, who lived in Iquique during his mandate as Governor of Tarapac� in 1825
