Good point raised. My translation of Horacio Salinas' Spanish, I don't claim to be excellent, but it's accurate. So Salinas makes that statement, and yes, it can be misleading.

To be more precise: the question of origin can be divided into two exact questions.
Where do the instrument boxes come from?
Where does the style of drumming originate?

So, what are we dealing with, in the Peruvian cajón:
a population of Afro-Peruvians, descended from slaves shipped across the Middle Passage from Africa, from societies with a deep-rooted tradition of drums and rhythms;
and, in Peru, they drummed upon whatever came to hand, using the boxes as musical instruments, as nobody else would think to do?

Disagreements? arguments?