HARDENBURG'S INVESTIGATIONS
THE CRIMES OF THE PUTUMAYO
Following are sworn statements of those who, as agents or sufferers,
participated in the outrages on the Peruvian Amazon Company's estates,
together with translations from various Peruvian newspapers of Iquitos,
and statements of Peruvians, who, to their credit, endeavoured to expose
the conditions existing in the Putumayo region:--
_Translation from "La Felpa," of Iquitos, of
December 29, 1907._
Notice is hereby given to persons who intend going to the rubber
possessions of the J. C. Arana and Hermanos Company in the Putumayo, not
to do so, for the following reasons:--
Everything is sold there at about four times the prices here. The food
consists of beans, without salt or lard, and the contents of one tin of
sardines for each twenty persons. Generally only boiled _airambo_ is
supplied, especially when they go out on _correrias_--that is, wholesale
slaughter of Indians. The Company does not pay salary balances in full;
they steal part of them and sometimes the whole! They do not permit
their employees to come here, except when the chiefs please. They beat,
put in stocks, club, and even murder employees who do not do everything
the chiefs order, and what is even worse they teach them to be
assassins, to flog, to burn Indians, to mutilate them--that is, to cut
off their fingers, arms, ears, legs, &c. As is evident, it is a horror
to go to the Putumayo. I should prefer to go to hell. If any one thinks
that I am trying to deceive him, let him come to the printing-office of
_La Sanción_, No. 49, Morona St., and I will give him details and, at
the same time, show him authentic documents, proving the truth of my
assertions. Do not forget, see me before going to the Putumayo. I do
this for the sake of humanity and to save many from crime. The Putumayo
is a school of the most refined and barbarous crimes! Honest men! Avoid
the Putumayo!
BENJAMIN SALDAÑA ROCCA.
_Translated from "La Felpa," December 29, 1907._
THE INDIANS OF THE PUTUMAYO.
All the indigenous inhabitants of those selvas are of mild character,
industrious, meek, hospitable, humble, and obedient. This assertion may
seem untrue to more than one person, for we have always heard that the
natives there are ferocious, indomitable, and even cannibals, but this
is false and exaggerated.
The Indians are divided into nations, and each one of these has a chief,
whom they denominate the _capitán_. They are enemies of polygamy, and
both men and women are jealous in the extreme. The latter cultivate
fields, while the men dedicate themselves to hunting, fishing, and
rubber collection.
These poor people, "simple," not cannibal, lived there happily until
Arana and his brigands invaded them. Then began the Tantalus for all of
them--men, women, children, and aged folk.
The chiefs of sections, such as the famous bandits, Norman, Agüero, the
two Rodríguez brothers, and others, already known and enumerated, all
impose upon each Indian the task of delivering to them 5 _arrobas_[111]
of rubber every _fabrico_.[112] When the time comes to deliver the
rubber, these unhappy victims appear with their loads upon their backs,
accompanied by their women and children, who help them to carry the
rubber. When they reach the section the rubber is weighed. They know by
experience what the needle of the balance should mark, and when it
indicates that they have delivered the full amount required, they leap
about and laugh with pleasure. When it does not, they throw themselves
face downwards on the ground and, in this attitude, await the lash, the
bullet, or the _machete_. This is at the option of the chief of section,
but they are generally given fifty lashes with scourges, until the flesh
drops from their bodies in strips, or else are cut to pieces with
_machetes_. This barbarous spectacle takes place before all the rest,
among whom are their women and children.
When they deliver the full amount of rubber required from them, they
are given a mouth-organ, worth 30 centavos[113], a coloured cotton
handkerchief, worth 50 centavos, a few beads, or similar trash. This
they receive with great pleasure, for, on the contrary, they are flogged
or shot to death.
They do not worry about the Indians' food, and as to the clothes of
these unfortunates, they have none, for both men and women live in the
most complete nakedness.
All these tribes, fifteen years ago, amounted to over twenty thousand
persons; to-day they do not reach ten thousand. Desolation invaded these
selvas together with the Aranas, worse even than the _cholera morbus_
and the bubonic, terrible and awful plagues that from time to time leave
Asia to traverse other parts of the globe, sowing panic, pain, death,
and mourning.
Now, as there are but relatively few male Indians left, they have the
cruelty to oblige the women to work at the extraction of rubber. Nor
does their sex protect them from the punishments that these barbarous
bandits of Arana inflict upon them, for they flog them, torture them,
and cut them to pieces.
A certain periodical, subsidised by this criminal company, speaking of
some memoirs of the explorer Robuchon,[114] states that he mentions that
these Indians are hospitable. From this it is clear that we are not the
first to make this assertion, and persons who have been in Puerto
Bermudez can form an idea of what these Indians are like by comparing
them with the Campas, which is the fiercest tribe. Nevertheless, there
in Puerto Bermudez these Campas are in intimate contact with all who
pass there, and furnish the traveller with everything in their power.
The appearance of the unfortunate Indians of the Putumayo is ghastly and
horrible; thin, cadaverous, and attenuated, they look more like ghosts
than human beings. And nevertheless, they go out to meet the employees
when these latter pass through their villages, and give them what few
fruits they have. These gifts have been rewarded by death, on more than
one occasion.
Only very rarely have they rebelled; but this rebellion consists only in
fleeing from their villages to emigrate far off, trying to get out of
reach of their executioners. They do this only when they are murdered,
flogged, burnt, tortured, mutilated, and robbed of their wives and
children with more than usual frequency. This is the crime of the
Putumayo Indians--trying to hide themselves from their murderers. Well,
these villains, enraged beyond all bounds, collect in parties of fifty
or more and start in pursuit of the fugitives. They fall upon them at
midnight, and after surrounding the huts in which their victims are
asleep, set fire to them and shoot all who try to escape.
Is it not reasonable that these unfortunates should defend themselves
and their dear ones when attacked in their last possessions? It is here
that sometimes, not always, desperate struggles take place, the
criminals with their rifles and the Indians with clubs and _machetes_.
As is natural, the latter are always defeated and once more the victims
of their torturers, who burn them by hundreds or else again reduce them
to slavery.
We believe it right to make known that the rubber there is becoming
exhausted, and that to collect even one ounce of it means real
sacrifices. It would be well if the English purchasers who have formed a
syndicate in order to exploit that region could see that its resources
are all imaginary, for Arana & Co. sell what does not belong to them, as
slavery does not exist in Peru.
We shall treat of other points in regard to this matter later, for the
unfortunate syndicate that has embarked in this adventure should be
informed of the real state of affairs and in what difficult conditions
things are in, for certain international treaties exist with Colombia
which have, at the present time, assumed a most serious and bellicose
aspect.
_Translated from the "Jornal do Comercio," of
Manaos, September 14, 1907._
In accordance with our promise to our readers, we give the following
news, as complete as possible, of a barbarous deed, the theatre of
which was a point close to one of our frontiers.
This narrative, detailed and horrible, we believe to be true, for it was
related to us by one of the victims, who is at present in this city, the
Colombian Roso España, a young man twenty-one years of age, of low
stature and agreeable features.
In the last days of 1906 Aquileo Torres, Felipe Cabrera, Feliciano
Muñoz, Pascual Rubiano, José de la Paz Gutiérrez, Bonifacio Cabrera,
Jorge Carbajal, Carlos María de Silva, Heleodoro X -- --, Crisanto
Victoria, Roso España, and two women, all employees of the firm of
Urbano Gutiérrez, set out from Florencia, Dept. of Tolima, Republic of
Colombia.
They embarked in six canoes, with a large quality of merchandise, for
the River Caquetá or Japurá, where they were going to extract rubber and
begin traffic with the Indians, so that the latter would help them in
this work. After a tedious journey of thirty-five days, they reached the
Lower Caquetá, where a tribe of Indians called the Andoques live. Here
they were well received by the indigenes of this Colombian territory. In
order to gain the friendship of these natives, the Colombians presented
them with various trifles and received from them in return manioca and
bananas. Thus the first difficulty was conquered, for within a few days
the Indians yielded themselves up completely to the new-comers.
As the construction of a house for the shelter of the _personal_[115]
and the merchandise was of urgent necessity, the chief of the party,
Felipe Cabrera, ordered some of the men to begin this operation, with
the help of the Indians, while the rest proceeded to burn the brush, in
order to make the necessary plantations.
A few days afterwards, when the clearing was finished and the
construction of the house well advanced, a group of nearly 20 Peruvian
_caucheros_,[116] all armed with rifles, appeared upon the scene. Two
Barbados negroes formed part of this band. The Peruvians first
encountered a group of eight persons--four men and one Colombian woman,
two Indian men and one Indian woman, all of whom were apart from their
companions, engaged in the fabrication of mandioca flour. Of this
inoffensive group the two Indians fell, shot dead. Then the Peruvians
sent a letter to one Señor Norman, an agent of the Arana Company, who
arrived on the scene three days later, accompanied by another group of
individuals. Norman, questioning the prisoners, learned that Felipe
Cabrera, the chief, was among them, and forced him, with threats, to
send an order to José de la Paz Gutiérrez, who was absent with the rest
of the men, to deliver up all the arms they had.
The prisoner, in fear of his life, wrote the order, which Norman took to
its destination.
The guide was the Colombian prisoner, Roso España.
Then, in possession of the arms, they began another butchery. The
Peruvians discharged their weapons at the Indians who were constructing
the roof of the house. These poor unfortunates, pierced by the bullets,
some dead, others wounded, rolled off the roof and fell to the ground.
The bandits, for it is only by that name that they can be called, not
content with these cowardly murders, for they had already killed
twenty-five, took the Indian women of advanced age, threw them into the
canoes of the Colombians and conducted them to the middle of the river
and discharged their rifles at them, killing them all.
What they did with the children was still more barbarous, for they
jammed them, head-downwards, into the holes that had been dug to receive
the posts that were to support the house.
The Peruvians, after taking possession of the merchandise, conducted the
Colombians, the _tuchaua_ of the Andoques, two Indians, and an Indian
woman, to Matanzas, the dwelling-place of the criminal Norman, the
journey taking two days. Here the prisoners were tied up with cords and
afterwards shut up in one of the houses, where they passed a night of
torture. In the morning the _tuchaua_ and the two Indians were taken out
to an adjacent knoll and clubbed to death.
At about mid-day those who had escaped with their lives were taken to La
Sabana, where the chief is Juan[117] Rodríguez, arriving there at about
10 p.m. and stopping for the night. In the morning they were sent to
Oriente, the chief of which is a Peruvian named Velarde.
Here still more barbarities were committed, the Colombians suffering
horrors, for on the day after their arrival they were chained up by the
neck and by the legs. As they were unable to endure such cruel
treatment, the unhappy prisoners appealed to their jailers, who took off
the chains, but in exchange put their legs in stocks.
In the house that these poor people were imprisoned in there were also a
large number of Indians in chains, who received daily violent
castigations, flagellations, and clubbing. Some of these Indians
suffered from awful wounds, many of them produced by firearms. Five days
afterwards the chiefs of the Colombians, Messrs. Felipe Cabrera, Aquileo
Torres, and José de la Paz Gutiérrez, were taken to the section known as
Abisinia. It is not known what fate has been meted out to them.
The other prisoners remained nearly two months in Oriente, until it was
known that the steamer _Liberal_ was in the Igaraparaná, an affluent of
the Putumayo. Here the principal branch establishment of the J. C. Arana
and Hermanos Company in the Putumayo is situated.
The Colombians were then embarked in the _Liberal_, which was to take
them prisoners to Iquitos. They remained on board this vessel four days,
but just before they reached the Brazilian fiscal port at Cotuhué the
commandant, fearing that the Brazilian officials might discover the
prisoners when they visited the vessel, disembarked the victims,
abandoning them in a canoe in midstream, with a few tins of sardines and
a little _fariña_. The victims, rowing with all their might, started for
the fiscal port, but did not reach it until after the _Liberal_ had left
for Iquitos. Here they presented themselves to Señor Nestor, the chief
of the port of Cotuhué, and narrated to him what had passed. In
Brazilian territory the unfortunates were kindly received and well
treated.
As the Colombians had to make their living, they asked Señor Nestor for
work, and the Brazilian official, taking pity on these poor men, gave
them work at fair pay. When the Governor of the State and General
Marques Porto visited that port on the _Virginia_, the Colombians were
still there.
Some days afterwards the war-launch _Amapá_, under Lieut. Olavo Machado,
while _en route_ to the frontier to relieve a sergeant and some
soldiers, stopped at Cotuhué. Then Roso España, who has given us this
narrative, approached that official of our navy and asked him for
passage to this city. Lieut. Machado, after learning of his misfortunes,
gave Roso España a passage on the _Amapá_, and the officials afterwards
employed him as servant, giving him 50 _milreis_ per month.
_Translated from "La Sanción," of Iquitos,
August 22, 1907._
I certify that in one of the establishments of La Chorrera, in the
section Matanzas, the chief, Armando Norman, applies two hundred or more
lashes, which are given with rough scourges of crude leather, to the
unhappy Indians, when they--to their misfortune--do not deliver
punctually the number of rolls of rubber with the weight that Norman
desires. At other times, when the Indian, fearful of not being able to
deliver the required amount of rubber, flees, they take his tender
children, suspend them by their hands and feet, and in this position
apply fire, so that under this torture they will tell where their father
is hidden.
On more than one occasion, always for lack of weight of the rubber, the
Indians are shot, or their arms and legs are cut off with _machetes_ and
the body is thrown around the house; and more than once the repugnant
spectacle of dogs dragging about the arms or legs of one of these
unfortunates has been witnessed.
At port Tarma, four hours from La Chorrera, section Oriente, of which
Fidel Velarde is chief, the Colombian Aquileo Torres is held prisoner,
with an enormous chain around his neck. This unhappy wretch lives in a
dying condition in the cellar of the house where he was taken from the
Caquetá. When the higher employees of the company get drunk--which
occurs with great frequency--they make the unfortunate Torres the target
of their cowardly attacks, for they spit on him, beat him, and abuse him
vilely.
I have also witnessed another scene, excessively inhuman and repugnant.
Juan C. Castaños embarked in the _Liberal_ for this place, and wished to
take along with him his Indian woman Matilde, which was not permitted,
for Bartolomé Zumaeta had taken a fancy to the beauty of the unhappy
woman; Castaños, upon seeing that they refused to let him take her with
him, in spite of all Matilde's pleadings to be allowed to accompany him,
had to abandon her, and, in his presence, the unfortunate woman was
given to Zumaeta. The Indian woman fled from this repugnant and diseased
wretch, who continued his journey to El Encanto, and, upon her return
to La Chorrera, she went to sleep on board one of the vessels anchored
in that port, where, it is said, all kinds of excesses were committed
upon her, and, not content with what they had already done to the
unhappy woman, they delivered her to the company; here she was inhumanly
scourged with twenty-five lashes, and her body was almost cut to pieces
by the effects of the lash. She was shut up in a warehouse, where she
remained at the time of our departure from La Chorrera.
Finally, two well-known Colombians, who are under the orders of the
agency of El Encanto, flogged the _Capitánes_ Cuyo, Guema, and Nampí, of
the Yaquebuas tribe, and _Capitán_ Acate, of the Nuisayes; the first was
flogged to death and the others, after the flagellation, were kept
chained up for several months, all for the "crime" of their people in
not delivering the number of kilos of rubber fixed by the company. Just
before these occurrences one of the men in reference murdered three
Indians, stabbing them with his own hands.
These are the actual deeds that are carried out constantly in the
Putumayo, and for the lack of one kilogram in the weight of their quota
of rubber they murder, mutilate, and torture the people.
The relation which I have just made of some of the many crimes committed
in this tragic territory of the Putumayo is made only for the sake of
the suffering and defenceless Indians in the hope that a stop will be
put to the crimes. It is inconceivable that within two steps of Iquitos,
where there are political authorities[118] and a superior court of
justice, crimes of the class I have described are committed.
(_Signed_) JULIO F. MURIEDAS.
_Translated from "La Sanción," August 29, 1907._
IQUITOS, _August 7, 1907_.
SEÑOR BENJAMIN SALDAÑA ROCCA,--I have heard that you are about to begin
a legal action denouncing the criminal deeds committed in the Arana
"possessions" on the tributaries of the River Putumayo, and as I was an
eye-witness of many of these tragedies I will recount to you what I have
seen.
We had scarcely arrived at La Chorrera when Señor Macedo ordered us to
the section of José Inocente Fonseca, who was then on a _correría_. The
food given us was a little _fariña_ and water, but Fonseca and his
numerous concubines ate abundant viands. We stopped at night at one of
the many _tambos_[119] in this region, the hammocks were slung, the
sentinels were posted, and those who did not mount guard lay down to
sleep. Within a few hours I heard people arriving, and three Indians
entered, each one carrying on his back several small bundles, wrapped up
in what looked like baskets. The chief was awakened, and he told them to
unroll what they had brought.
I thought they were fruits or something of that sort, but what was my
horror when on unwrapping the coverings there appeared first the head of
an Indian, second that of a woman, and third that of an infant, and so
on for the rest. The emissary as he unwrapped the heads explained, "This
is that of So-and-So, this other that of his wife, the third that of his
son," and so on. Fonseca, with the utmost unconcern, as though they were
cocoa-nuts or other fruits, took them in turn by the hair, examined
them, and then threw them away. I do not record the names of the
victims, Señor Saldaña, for they were Indian names, difficult to
remember. This took place in Ultimo Retiro, among the nation or
sub-tribe of the pacific Aifugas Indians, in March, 1906.
On the _sábado de gloria_ Fonseca observed several Indians going out of
the house to fetch water. Taking his revolver and carbine, he turned
towards them, saying to us (there were present Juan C. Castaños, Pérez,
Alfredo Cabrera, Miguel Rengifo, Ramón Granda, Sparro, Lorenzo Tello,
and many others whose names I do not recollect now), "Look, this is how
we celebrate the _sábado de gloria_ here," wantonly let fly at the
Indians, killing one man and hitting a girl of fifteen years. This girl
did not die immediately, being only wounded, but the criminal Miguel
Rengifo, _alias_ Ciegadiño, finished her with a carbine bullet.
When Fonseca returned from the _correría_ and went to his section-house,
Victoria, one of his nine concubines was accused of infidelity in his
absence. Enraged, Fonseca tied her up to a tree by her opened arms and,
raising her skirt to her neck, flogged her with an enormous lash,
continuing until he was tired out. He then put her in a hammock inside a
warehouse, and as the scars received no treatment in a few days maggots
bred in them; then by his orders the Indian girl was dragged out and
killed. Luis Silva, a Brazilian negro, who is at present in the section
Unión, is the man who executed this order. After murdering Victoria as I
have described they threw her body into the banana plantation.
The floggings of Indians were carried out daily, and from time to time
some Indians were killed.
(_Signed_) ANACLETO PORTOCARRERA.
(_Sworn before_) FEDERICO M. PIZARRO, _Notary Public_.
IQUITOS, _September 28, 1907_.
SEÑOR BENJAMIN SALDAÑA ROCCA,--By the articles published in your worthy
newspaper, _La Sanción_, I understand that you accept the voluntary
statements of those who, like myself, have witnessed some of the awful
crimes committed in the Putumayo by the brigands of Arana Hermanos. I
shall now relate to you what I have seen and what they do there to-day.
In the year and fifteen days that I have been in El Encanto in Macedo's
section--Monte Rico--and in Artemio Muñoz' section--Esmeraldas--I have
seen them flog Indians in a most barbarous manner, generally leaving
them dead or nearly so. The executioner in Monte Rico was Belisario
Suárez, the second chief; in the two months and a half that I was in his
service I have seen more than three hundred Indians flogged, each one
receiving from twenty to one hundred and fifty or two hundred lashes,
this latter number being given when they wish to kill him on the spot by
flogging. Other Indians are given one hundred or more lashes and are
then thrown out in the forest to die there, full of maggots, for even
their own companions flee from them in horror. In this section all the
employees are obliged to do the floggings: among them were Andrés
Guerra, Gonzalez, and others whom I cannot remember now, but will cite
later.
In Esmeraldas similar crimes are committed. The chief is Artemio Muñoz,
another barbarian. In this section I remained three months and a half,
and they flogged over four hundred, among men, women, children of eight
years, and even old folks, six of whom they killed in this way. There
was one Indian who endured two hundred lashes, and, seeing that he was
not yet dead on the second day, the chief ordered an Italian, named
Ernesto Acosta, to kill him with the butt of a carbine, which he did,
the unhappy Indian dying in this barbarous way.
In both sections, after the flagellation, a chain is tied around the
Indian's neck, and in this way many of them die. Señor Loayza knows all
this perfectly well, for he himself gives the order to flog all who do
not bring in the amount of rubber they impose upon them. In Esmeraldas,
Don Bartolomé Guevara, inspector of sections, killed two _capitánes_;
this is the individual who introduced the method of having men tied to
four stakes and flogging them. When he makes his _correrías_ and orders
the floggings he says that the Indians must either work or die, for he
does not wish to return to his country poor. This terrible man must have
flogged over five thousand Indians during the six years he has resided
in this region. He has also, I am told by people who have seen him, shot
many whites to death.
Don Luis Alcorta had a mistress named Carolina Diaz, who had a little
son by a German. Alcorta, the stepfather of this little boy, who was
three or four years old, could not bear the sight of him, and almost
daily this wicked wretch kicked and clubbed him; when the mother
intervened she, too, was clubbed. The poor woman has become consumptive
and lives here now, but as to her little son, this Alcorta killed him in
two months with the numerous clubbings he gave him.
When this same man killed Faustino Hernandez, shooting him to death with
the help of Belisario Suárez, they made a great feast, in which, among
others, Miguel S. Loayza, Luis Alcorta, Belisario Suárez, Olivarez, and
Dagoberto Arriarán took part, celebrating the graces, valour, and
courage of the assassins. It is worthy of note that the Barbados negro,
King, and the white, Olivarez (the one-eyed man), were the ones who shot
the unfortunate Hernandez in the head; these also took part in the
festivity, which terminated in drunkenness and scandal, all with the
consent and approval of the manager of El Encanto, Señor Loayza.
This, Señor Saldaña, is what I know and have witnessed, and I am ready
to maintain this statement anywhere.
Make any use you deem convenient of this declaration, in favour of those
sufferers.
CARLOS SOPLÍN.
HANG
(_Sworn before_) FEDERICO M. PIZARRO,
_Notary Public_.
[Illustration: A SIDE STREET AT IQUITOS.
[To face p. 232.]
_Translated from "La Felpa" of Iquitos, January 5,
1908._
_Note._--For obvious reasons the author of the following letter does not
sign his name in full.
IQUITOS, _July 16, 1907_.
SEÑOR BENJAMIN SALDAÑA ROCCA,--I write you this to inform you about the
horrible crimes, such as murders, robberies, floggings, tortures, &c.,
that are committed in the possessions of Señores J. C. Arana and
Hermanos on the River Putumayo.
The principal criminals are the following chiefs of sections: Armando or
Felipe Norman, José Inocente Fonseca, Abelardo Agüero, Augusto Jiménez,
Arístides Rodríguez, Aurelio Rodríguez, Alfredo Montt, Fidel Velarde,
Carlos Miranda, and Andrés O'Donnell. With the exception of O'Donnell,
who has not killed Indians with his own hands, but who has ordered over
five hundred Indians to be killed, all the rest--every one of them--have
killed with their own hands, the least criminal, like Jiménez, ten in
two months; others, like Fonseca, more than a hundred in one year.
I have served two months in Abisinia, of which Abelardo Agüero is chief,
and during that time I have seen three Indians flogged; one of them was
a pregnant woman. After flogging her they cut her throat with _machetes_
and then burnt her up. Afterwards they flogged, during the two months I
spent here, about one hundred Indians, giving them ordinarily one
hundred and fifty lashes. This chief robbed me of one month's pay, which
amounted to S.50.
Afterwards, Señor Saldaña, I served in Matanzas, under the orders of
Norman, for the space of one month and five days. In this time I saw ten
Indians killed and burnt and three hundred were flogged who died slowly,
for their wounds are not treated, and when they are full of maggots they
kill them with bullets and _machetes_ and afterwards burn some of them.
Others are thrown aside and, as they rot, emit an insupportable stench.
This section stinks so that at times it is impossible to remain here on
account of the rotting flesh of the dead and dying Indians.
Here in Matanzas, Armando Norman ordered me to kill a little Indian
about eight or ten years old who had been cruelly flogged for running
away, and who, in consequence of this barbarous punishment, was full of
maggots and dying, his back being completely torn to pieces from the
lashes he had received. I refused, Señor Saldaña, to kill the boy, but
Norman, enraged beyond all bounds, grasped his carbine and aimed at me
to kill me, and, as I had seen him kill so many people and had nobody to
appeal to, I had to kill the little Indian.
In Ultimo Retiro I served nearly a year, and the chief was José Inocente
Fonseca. During my stay here they killed about two hundred Indians,
among men, women, and children. The bones of the victims are scattered
about over the ranches and everywhere else.
Here they made me commit one crime more. There was in this place an
Indian woman called Simona, whose lover was a boy named Simón; Argaluza,
the sub-chief, said that I had had relations with her, and for this
reason they gave Simona twenty-five lashes, which were applied by the
Barbados negroes Stanley S. Lewis and Ernest Siobers. The Indian woman
was left with her back literally torn to pieces, and in four days, when
she began to stink and had maggots in her rotten flesh, Fonseca came and
ordered me to kill her. Upon my refusal he put me in the stocks and
threatened to kill me. Then, terrified and helpless, I had to kill
Simona.
I was also in Porvenir six months, the chief being Bartolomé Guevara.
Here I saw only about ten Indians flogged.
I also wish to inform you, Señor Rocca, that they take away from the
Indians their women and children.
Every Indian is obliged to deliver to the company every three months 60
kilos of rubber, and in payment they are given a knife or a small
mirror, worth 20 centavos, or a harmonium or a string of beads, weighing
one ounce. To all who deliver 5 _pagos_--each _pago_ being composed of
100 kilos--or, in other words, to those who deliver 500 kilos or bind
themselves to do so, they give a shot-gun of the value of S.15. The
Indians are never given food; they themselves furnish it. To those who
do not deliver the 60 kilos every three months--a part of which must be
ready every ten days--and to those who lack even half a kilo five or ten
lashes are applied.
The Indian is so humble, that as soon as he sees that the needle of the
scale does not mark the ten kilos, he himself stretches out his hands
and throws himself on the ground to receive the punishment. Then the
chief or a subordinate advances, bends down, takes the Indian by his
hair, strikes him, raises his head, drops it face downwards on the
ground, and, after the face is beaten and kicked and covered with blood,
the Indian is scourged. This is when they are treated best, for often
they cut them to pieces with _machetes_.
In Matanzas I have seen Indians tied to a tree, their feet about half a
yard above the ground. Fuel is then placed below, and they are burnt
alive. This is done to pass the time.
When Señor Castaños was in Porvenir, Fonseca ordered him to kill two
Indians with the Boras, Remigio and Buchico, and to bring, tied up,
three Indian women that Fonseca wanted as his concubines: these were
Josefa, with her little child by Carlos Lemus, A---- and Z----. As
Castaños would not obey this order, he was taken to Ultimo Retiro, and
there they wished to kill him, but when Fonseca pulled out his revolver,
Castaños defended himself in an energetic attitude with his carbine.
Castaños took the Indian women to La Chorrera and Fonseca had the
Indians killed in the forest, and, to take revenge on Castaños, had his
Indians taken away, also his woman, Isabel, who was pregnant and about
to give birth, and a boy named Adolfo. I heard afterwards that Fonseca
ordered Isabel to be killed, when she was with her tribe, the Noruegas.
The Indians are tame and humble, and bring us food. Often, after these
unfortunates bring food to the chief of the section, he has them
murdered.
_Declaration made by Señor João Baptista Braga, a Brazilian
citizen, thirty-eight years of age, of the State of Pará, before
Lieutenant José Rosa Brazil, Commandant of the detachment of
Constantinopolis._
In the year 1902 I was contracted as fireman of the launch _Preciada_,
which ran from Iquitos to the River Putumayo and belonged to Messrs. J.
C. Arana and Hermanos. About one year, more or less, after this, I
resigned and began work on the launch of Mr. David Cazes, British Consul
in Iquitos, where I worked for the space of one year.
On December 6, 1904, I was again engaged by the J. C. Arana and Hermanos
Company to direct a band of sixty-five men (Peruvians), with a salary of
S.80 per month, besides a gratification of S.100. My chiefs were
Abelardo Agüero and Augusto Jiménez.
Immediately after my arrival Señor Agüero called me in order to show me
the method of proceeding with the prisoners they have there; so taking
eight Indians out of the _cepo_ where they had been barbarously
martyrised, he had them tied to eight posts in the _patio_, and, after
drinking a bottle of cognac with his partner Jiménez, they began to
murder these unfortunates, who perished, giving vent to horrible
shrieks, helpless victims of the ferocious instincts of their masters.
The crime they had committed was that of having fled to escape the
horrible treatment to which they were subjected.
About three months after this, Señor Agüero, the chief of the section,
ordered me to shoot thirty-five men, whom he had in chains for the same
crime as the others had committed. As I refused to commit such a hellish
crime, he insulted me and threatened to have me shot if I did not obey
this order.
In spite of this menace, I roundly refused to carry out this order,
telling him that I was a Brazilian citizen and would never be an
assassin.
"Well, then," he replied, "if you won't obey my orders, I have another
who will," and calling the second chief, Augusto Jiménez, ordered him to
"kill those worthless wretches at once!" Those thirty-five unfortunates,
still in chains, were thus murdered in cold blood, and from this instant
forward they began to persecute me, making me endure all kinds of
miseries. They began by refusing me food to such an extreme that I was
frequently obliged to eat _airambo_ (a leaf resembling the Brazilian
_vinagrera_), _caguana_, _palmito_, &c.--the few things that they gave
us to prevent our dying from hunger being quite insufficient for the
numerous band.
In these conditions, and seeing that at any moment I might become the
victim of the ferocity of the chiefs of the section, I resolved to
resign my position, and wrote asking for permission to return to Brazil.
This I repeated four times, always receiving the reply that, as they had
no other employee to take my place, they could not let me go.
Thus I remained without anybody to appeal to, without resources, and
without means of transportation, for there was no canoe in which I could
escape.
At last I understood that they did not mean to let me leave there, for,
naturally, they feared that I would relate the series of monstrous
crimes committed there.
During these three years and eight months of prison I had the
opportunity of seeing an infinity of atrocities, the like of which could
hardly have been committed in the Inquisition.
One day a _tuchaua_ called Iubitide, arrived with seventy Indians and
gave an Indian woman of his tribe to Jiménez, the chief of the section;
but Jiménez, not satisfied with this gift, asked the _tuchaua_ for his
own woman. The refusal of the latter was sufficient for Jiménez to order
him to be tied up and shot to death.
It would be an endless task to relate the innumerable crimes that I have
seen committed during my stay in this section. Here, recently, in the
month of July, the _tuchaua_ known as Tiracahuaca and his wife were held
prisoners in chains. When Jiménez--who had been temporarily
absent--arrived, he had them brought into his presence and told them
that if their tribe did not appear within the space of eight days, he
would show them what he would do with them.
The eight days passed, and as the tribe did not come, he ordered a can
of kerosene to be poured over them, and then, striking a match, he set
fire to these unfortunates, who fled to the forest uttering the most
desperate cries.
Naturally, upon seeing such an awful crime committed, I expressed my
horror at it to Jiménez, who replied that if there were anybody who
wished to protest against the orders he gave, he would be served in the
same manner, and that if the company kept him as chief, it was because
he knew how to do his duty.
Then I perceived that my life was in more danger every day, and I
resolved to escape at any risk.
On the 28th of July, the Peruvian Independence Day, I took advantage of
the orgy in which I found the chiefs of the section engaged, and
embarked in an Indian canoe that I found in the port, at 4 a.m.
My companions were Felipe Cabrera, a Colombian, who had been a prisoner
for eighteen months, and a Peruvian, Melchor Sajamín, who was in the
same condition as myself, having been flogged several times.
This is the truth of what passed and of what I have witnessed, and I
appeal to the authorities of my country, who will, I trust, demand an
explanation from the Government of Peru of the abuses and crimes
committed upon Brazilian citizens and those of other nations by the
employees of the J. C. Arana and Hermanos Company.
I present the person who signs this declaration with me as a witness of
my signature.
JOÃO BAPTISTA BRAGA.
CONSTANTINOPOLIS, _October 6, 1908_.
(_Signed in my presence_) JOSÉ R. BRAZIL.
_Letters to Hardenburg--Translation._
IQUITOS, _June 6,1908_.
SEÑOR W. E. HARDENBURG,--As you have written to me, I shall give you a
full account of all the deeds I have witnessed in the region of the
Putumayo in the year 1903.
On the 4th of August of that year I began work on _correría_ service in
the section Abisinia, where they sent us to guard the poor Indians and
see that they brought in the rubber that the chief demanded.
On the 20th of the same month Agüero committed a most savage murder,
cutting off an Indian's head. He is just the sort of man to commit all
kinds of atrocities, such as cutting Indian women's limbs off, burning
their houses, setting fire to their dead bodies, &c. On the 10th of the
same month he had some fifty Indians put in stocks, and as he gave them
neither water nor food, the poor Indians began to dry up like pieces of
wood, until they reached such an extreme as to be quite useless and
dying. Then he tied them up to a post and exterminated them by using
them as targets for his Mauser revolver.
On the 15th of this month this same man went out on a _correría_ with
eight men. At one of the houses where they stopped to rest they found
two Indian women who were ill of smallpox. The two poor sufferers begged
Agüero for some medicine to cure themselves. Agüero replied that he
would see that the fever continued no longer, and so saying, grasped a
_machete_ and cut off the heads of the two women.
On the 20th of September I began work at the section Morelia, where
Jiménez was the chief, and on the 30th a commission arrived, bringing
fifteen Indian prisoners, who were put in stocks. When on the point of
dying of hunger, one of the victims told the chief that it would be
better to kill them at once and not make them suffer such cruel agonies,
whereupon he took a _machete_, cut off the man's leg, and then ordered
him to be dragged away, killed, and burned.
On the 4th of the following month a commission of whites under Jiménez
set out on a _correría_. When they had journeyed for two days, they met
a young Indian, whom they asked as to the whereabouts of the other
Indians, and as soon as they had received a reply Jiménez cut off his
head with a _machete_.
Four days after this terrible crime they came across two Indian women,
planting _yuca_ in a _chacra_, and asked them where their men were.
Enraged at not obtaining a clear answer, they threatened the women with
death, and as the latter refused to say anything, these wretches began
to cut them to pieces. About five days after the execution of this crime
they met with a number of _infieles_, and proceeded to kill them all.
These crimes took place in the section Morelia, the chief of which was
this Jiménez, and I can vouch for them, as I saw them with my own eyes.
In the year 1904 I was employed in Santa Catalina, where lives Aurelio
Rodríguez, the chief of this section, who ordered the employees out on
_correrías_, from which they returned ill and decimated by hunger, for
the _infieles_ endeavoured to emancipate themselves from the work on
account of the cruel punishment given them, as those who unfortunately
fell into the hands of this chief were killed in a most barbarous
manner.
Finally, a commission of ten men went out on a _correría_ and committed
the most savage outrages, killing all the poor _infieles_, big and
small, that they met on their march. On their return they brought some
forty Indians as prisoners, whom they put in stocks, where an epidemic
of smallpox arose among them. Although they were in a most pitiable
condition, Rodríguez took them out, one by one, and used them as targets
to practise shooting at.
About nine days after this an Indian woman fell into his hands, but as
she became ill of the same disease, Rodríguez ordered them to kill her.
She begged for her life, but in vain, for he had her killed as he did
not care for her.
As my time is limited and the crimes I have witnessed are numerous, I
will conclude this statement by informing you that the vicinity of the
house where this man lives is sown with skeletons.
O'Donnell, the chief of Entre Ríos, compels the _infieles_ to bring him
a certain quantity of rubber, and if they do not do so, he submits them
to most cruel punishments, mutilating them and then ending by murdering
them.
For all legal purposes and for the good of the country, I give you the
present statement, which I sign in the presence of two witnesses.
(_Signed_) JUAN ROSAS.
(_Witnesses to_ { JULIAN VÁSQUEZ.
_the signature_) { NICANOR DE LA MESA.
IQUITOS, _May 15, 1909_.
SR. W. E. HARDENBURG.
DEAR SIR,--I have just received your letter of yesterday asking for
information about the rubber possessions of the Peruvian Amazon Company
in the Putumayo and its tributaries, and I have pleasure in answering
it, narrating voluntarily some of the things I have witnessed in that
ghastly region, and authorising you to make any use of this letter that
you deem convenient.
On March 6, 1908, I left Iquitos on the small steamer _Liberal_, bound
for El Encanto, from where we descended to La Chorrera. Here I began
work as an employee on April 1st of the same year.
As soon as I had landed at this port I noticed the unfortunate Indians,
who loaded and unloaded the small steamers at the port--thin, hungry,
weak, and covered with great scars produced by the lash and the
_machetes_--I saw that they were the helpless victims of excessively
barbarous system of forced labour. When any of these wretched beings
fell down, overcome by weakness, or sat down to rest, their taskmasters,
the employees of the Peruvian Amazon Company, clubbed them cruelly and
brutally with sticks of firewood and huge, raw-hide scourges, laughing
at the cries and moans of agony emitted by the unfortunate victims.
I also saw Dancurt, the official executioner of La Chorrera, flog the
poor Indians almost daily for the most trivial faults: all with the
knowledge and approbation of Victor Macedo, manager of La Chorrera and
_Justice of the Peace_ of the Putumayo.
Abelardo Agüero, who had just arrived in the war-launch _Iquitos_, asked
me to go with him to Abisinia, a section he was in charge of, assuring
me that they did not flog the Indians there, that they had good food,
and that he would pay me 80 dollars per month. Believing in his good
faith, and, above all, not wishing to witness any more crimes, I
accepted his offer, and within a few days we began the journey, going in
a launch as far as Santa Julia. From here we continued the journey on
foot to a place called Araras, where I was overcome by weakness, owing
to lack of food. But Agüero and his companions, who had offered me so
much, left me in the forest without medicines or a grain of food.
In this state, and seeing that death was certain unless I got something
to eat, I started to crawl painfully about in search of herbs to eat,
and found a tree called _huava_. I picked some of its fruit and ate it,
but shortly afterwards had terrible pains in the stomach, and vomited up
all the fruit that I had eaten.
After acute sufferings I managed to reach Abisinia, without having eaten
anything during the two days and a half of the journey.
In Abisinia I saw the eight concubines of Agüero. Some of these were of
the Boras tribe, and others were Huitotos, all of different ages--for
this group of unfortunates was composed of girls from nine to sixteen
years. Agüero kept his eight women separated from each other, the Boras
on one side and the Huitotos on the other, so that they would not
quarrel, on account of the antagonisms that exist between the different
tribes.
One day I witnessed an excessively atrocious scene, the barbarous
flogging of three unfortunate Indians, who, for the mere fact of not
having brought in all the rubber that Agüero had required, were scourged
with such fury that their backs and hips were completely cut to pieces,
the blood rushing from their wounds. Upon seeing this barbarity, I
withdrew, for I could not endure it nor the diabolical jokes and
laughter of those fiends upon seeing the desperate agony of their
victims.
I also saw the two unfortunates, Paz Cutierrez and one Cabrera, who were
prisoners, shut up in a small, dirty room under sentinels; to these
unhappy wretches they gave almost no food at all, and abused and
insulted them vilely and cowardly. One of them at last succeeded in
escaping, but the other still remained in the hands of his jailers at my
departure from Abisinia.
In May of the same year I went to Morelia. I arrived there also after a
very tedious journey, and had hardly reached this section when I
witnessed the cruel flogging of seven Indians for the usual crime--that
of not delivering enough rubber to satisfy the ambitions of the
company's agents. Two of these victims were mere boys, and I heard their
cries of agony and saw the lash cutting into their flesh. All this I
saw, but could not defend them from their murderers, as I knew that if I
tried to do so they would kill me in an instant.
After a stay of eight days in Morelia I returned to Abisinia, in
accordance with orders. A few days afterwards the syphilitic Bartolomé
Zumaeta, the brother-in-law of Julio C. Arana, and notorious among the
criminals of the Putumayo, arrived, together with the famous Augusto
Jiménez, the author of various violations, arsons, floggings, and
homicides. The arrival of these two men was the occasion for a
drinking-bout, comparable only to the orgy of a horde of savages.
The day after this debauch Agüero ordered one of his concubines to be
flogged for having held a conversation with one Alberto Urdinibia. They
suspended the poor woman from a rafter of the roof and lashed her for
two hours without compunction, and then, regardless of her sex, they
removed her garment and exhibited her naked body, bruised and cut to
pieces by the lash. When this unfortunate woman fainted, they shut her
up in a dirty room without treating her wounds! Urdinibia also had to
receive his punishment; they put him in stocks, where he remained two
days, practically without food.
Seeing that an honest man neither could nor should remain here, I
resolved to escape in company with Urdinibia; but as those fiends
noticed our absence, they sent in pursuit and took us back to Abisinia.
Impatient at my continual complaints, Agüero at last gave me permission
to go to Santa Julia. On this journey I suffered greatly, as I made it
alone and without food, for they gave me no food whatever for my trip.
After considerable suffering I arrived at Santa Julia, where the chief,
Manuel Aponte, in spite of seeing me sick and in a state of complete
misery, began to annoy me, in accordance with the instructions he had
received from Agüero, making me labour from early morning until late at
night--all this in spite of the fact that the company had promised me
food and medicines gratis when ill. Unfortunate is the poor wretch who
lets himself be deceived by the smooth words of the "civilising"
company!
During the fifteen days that I stayed in Santa Julia I saw three Indian
women flogged most barbarously, without the slightest reason, by order
of this notorious Manuel Aponte. Here a negro who served as cook played
the rôle of executioner, and this miserable wretch, whose conscience was
as black as his skin, seemed to take pleasure in his disgusting task,
for a devilish smile distorted his blubber lips at seeing the blood
spurt out at each blow of the lash. This flogging, like all the rest I
have seen in this awful region, was excessively inhuman; but, not
content with this, these fiends, after flogging the poor women, put salt
and vinegar into their wounds so as to increase the pain.
At last I embarked in the launch for La Chorrera, where I found that
Agüero had deceived me; for instead of paying 80 _soles_ per month, as
had been promised me, they paid me at the rate of only 50 _soles_, and
deducted from this sum the food and the few medicines they had supplied,
so that after three months of hard work and sufferings I had only 71
_soles_ to the good.
I was badly received in La Chorrera, above all by one Delgado, who was
the accountant, for Agüero had written him a letter discrediting me
slanderously. As I was not able to continue on to Iquitos, I secured
employment in the so-called apothecary-shop from Dr. Rodríguez, where I
remained some months. Here I had the opportunity to observe that the
free medicines that this company so generously offers to its employees
are reduced to a little Epsom salt. They also occasionally dole out a
few grains of quinine.
During the time I was employed here I saw many gruesome cases. The
criminal Dancurt, during all the time that I remained in La Chorrera,
continued his work of scourging and other excesses upon the helpless
Indians, with the full knowledge and authorisation of Macedo, who thinks
of nothing more than his bottle of whisky.
Now that I have mentioned drink, I will say that in La Chorrera, as well
as in the other sections, the vice that dominates the employees of this
company is drunkenness, which, added to their criminal instincts, turns
them into regular human panthers and the Putumayo into a veritable hell.
With regard to the pay they give the Indians for the rubber that these
poor wretches extract, this is the most shameless system that can be
imagined. In La Chorrera, which is the principal branch of this company
in the Putumayo, I saw them give some Indians a few caps, matches,
mirrors, and other trifles, the value of which did not amount to five
_soles_, in return for a large quantity of rubber that they had
delivered. The Indians, humble and resigned, took this trash and
disappeared into the forest, seeing, reflected in the mirrors they
received in exchange for their labour, the scars that the infamous hands
of the Peruvian Amazon Company's employees had made all over their weak
bodies.
The Indians of the Putumayo are more than slaves of the "civilising"
company, as this syndicate of crime has the barefacedness to call
itself, for it exploits them in all ways, and the poor Indians can
reckon neither with their lives, their women, nor their children: the
company is the absolute owner of life and property.
My belief is that the slavery of these Indians will terminate only when
the rubber is exhausted here, which will not be very distant; for even
now the Indians, in their desire to collect all the rubber demanded by
their owners, and not finding it near, mix the juices of other trees
with it, and it is for this reason that the rubber extracted in the
Putumayo at present is of such a poor quality. When the rubber gives
out, the detestable slavery of the Indians will end. But which will be
exterminated first, the Indians or the rubber-trees, it is hard to say.
In conclusion, I will state that if there were no Indians in the region
of the Putumayo to work free, the company would have nothing to deal in,
and consequently would fall to the ground, for its assets are acquired
by pillage.
Trusting that this will help you somewhat in the task you have
undertaken of unmasking these wolves.
CELESTINO LÓPEZ.
(_Sworn before_) FEDERICO M. PIZARRO,
_Notary Public_.
IQUITOS, _May 17, 1909_.
SR. W. E. HARDENBURG,--In reply to your letter of the 16th inst., I give
you the following exact and reliable information of what I have
witnessed during my stay on the River Putumayo, to be used for any
purpose that you deem proper:--
[Illustration: RIVER ITAYA, NEAR IQUITOS.
To face p. 250.]
On the 15th of June, 1907, I arrived at the section Matanzas, which is
under the orders of the sanguinary and criminal Armando Norman, the
chief of this section. As soon as I arrived he ordered a commission,
composed of twenty-five men, to go out on a _correría_ and to bring
in chained up, all the Indians they might find, together with their
women and children. The bandit Norman furnished to this commission, as
food for the twenty days they would be absent, fifteen tins of sardines,
at the same time ordering that nobody should carry any more clothes than
he wore on his back, in order to avoid the extra weight, for in this way
they would be better able to carry out the orders he imparted to them.
At the end of about twenty days the commission returned, bringing in,
among men, women, and children, about thirty Indians, all in chains,
who, as soon as they arrived at the house, were delivered to Norman.
Then Norman stepped up and asked three old Indians and two young women,
their daughters, where the rest of the Indians were. They replied that
they did not know, as several days before they had all dispersed in the
forest, owing to the fear they had of him. Norman then grasped his
_machete_ and murdered these five unfortunate victims in cold blood.
Their bodies were left stretched out near the house and Norman's dogs
took charge of them, for he has them well trained; so well trained are
these animals that the morning is rare that they do not appear with an
arm or a leg of a victim at the bedside of this monster.
The rest of the Indians brought by this commission were, by the orders
of Norman, secured in the _cepo_, which, as a rule, exists in all the
sections. As Norman had given the order not to give the poor wretches
any food, it was not long before they began to fall ill and utter cries
of pain and desperation; whenever this occurred, Norman grasped his
_machete_ and cut them to pieces, leaving the remains of these victims,
for the space of from four to six days, at the side of their companions,
who were doomed to a similar fate. Whenever these remains--already in a
state of putrefaction--became offensive to this bandit, he compelled the
Indian prisoners to put them in heaps and set fire to them.
About twenty days after this event Norman ordered another commission of
ten criminals to go out and bring in a _capitán_, with all his family.
This order was strictly carried out, the criminals returning in five
days, bringing the _capitán_, his wife, and two children, all in chains.
As soon as they arrived Norman submitted them to a cross-examination,
asking them why they did not bring in the amount of rubber that he
required from them and that his superiors had ordered him to get, to
which the _capitán_ replied that as the quantity he demanded was very
large, sometimes it was impossible to collect it all. This answer was
sufficient to cause Norman to tie up his hands and feet with a chain and
to order three armfuls of wood to be placed about the unfortunate
victim, he himself bringing half a tin of kerosene and, with his own
hands, setting fire thereto. When the poor wretch's wife saw this
horrible act of cruelty, she implored Norman not to murder her husband
in such a barbarous manner; this sufficed for Norman to cut off her head
and throw her on the funeral pile of her husband. After this he took the
two children and, after dismembering them with his _machete_, threw
their remains on the same fire.
To terminate with this repugnant criminal, whom I have seen commit
crimes so horrible that perhaps they are unequalled in the history of
the entire world, it is sufficient to say that I have seen him
repeatedly snatch tender children from their mothers' arms, and,
grasping them by the feet, smash their heads to pieces against the
trunks of trees.
I have also seen him commit another most barbarous crime. This was on
the 11th of July, 1907, at about 4 p.m. The victim was a poor Indian
woman whom he had ordered to serve as a concubine for one of his
adjutants. The woman refused to obey this order as she already had an
Indian husband. This was sufficient for Norman to cut off her legs and
leave her in a field near the house, where she remained a night and a
day, until he himself went out to finish her with his Mauser revolver.
For the same reason Norman suspended another Indian woman from four
stakes by her hands and feet, and, after giving her one hundred lashes,
he took a Peruvian flag, which happened to be handy, and tearing it to
pieces and sousing it with kerosene he wound it around her feet and set
fire to it. As soon as the woman started to run off, crazed with the
awful agony, he grasped his Mauser and practised target-shooting with
her until he brought her down.
To convince oneself of the truth of these statements, it is sufficient
to approach the neighbourhood of Matanzas, for on all sides one sees the
ground sown with skulls and other human remains. If I were to relate all
the crimes I have seen committed in this devilish Putumayo, it would be
nothing less than writing a whole book. I will, however, give
particulars of the doings of some other chiefs, no less criminal than
the bloodthirsty Norman.
After three months I applied for a transfer from this horrible depot.
This application was granted, and they sent me to the depot known as La
Sabana, where I found as chief Arístides Rodríguez. About two weeks
after my arrival at this place Rodríguez had four Indians of the
Recígaros tribe brought in. As soon as they arrived he asked them why
they had not brought any rubber, and the unfortunates, fearful of what
awaited them, lowered their humble glances to the ground and did not
answer a word. Then Arístides ordered one of his secretaries, who to-day
walks freely with him about the streets of Iquitos, to take four more
employees and to cut off the heads of those Indians and burn them, which
order was at once carried out at the side of the house.
Shortly after this Rodríguez went out in charge of a commission of fifty
men to a point called Cahuinarí. Once there, he proceeded to murder a
hundred and fifty Indians, men, women, and children. These murders were
carried out with rifles and _machetes_. Afterwards they arrived at some
Indian houses and fired them by order of Rodríguez. In these houses
there were at least forty families, according to an individual who
accompanied Rodríguez, who went in first to ascertain what Indians there
were inside. Here a most horrible spectacle was witnessed, and it was
appalling to hear the groans and laments of the Indians enwrapped in the
devouring flames of the fire.
About twenty days after this occurrence Rodríguez started for Santa
Catalina, and on the journey, he met four Indians of the Maynanes tribe,
who were _en route_ to put themselves at his service. Rodríguez, instead
of receiving them, placed his carbine to his shoulder and shot them to
death.
This infamous agent has a brother[120], who is chief of Santa Catalina,
called Aurelio Rodríguez, a wretch no less criminal than his brother,
for in the month of March of the year 1908, when I was at Santa
Catalina, a commission arrived, bringing four Indians in chains. This
Aurelio Rodríguez then remarked that he felt anxious to test his
shooting, and, without more ado, took his carbine and began to shoot at
those poor Indians, with the result that in a few minutes they fell shot
to death; afterwards he had them burned.
After all these events I made all possible exertions to get away from
this awful region, and, after some work, I succeeded in getting
transferred to El Encanto, where another monster, Miguel S. Loayza, is
chief. On one occasion this other repugnant criminal gave orders to his
confidential secretary, the negro, King, to go with several other
employees and take a poor Colombian, whose name I do not now recall,
prisoner. As soon as they brought him to El Encanto, Loayza had him
assassinated by the negro, King, and afterwards thrown into the river.
All these deeds occur with great frequency in the Putumayo. Would to God
that the weight of justice would fall over this awful region!
_For_ GENARO CAPORO,
JOSÉ ANTONIO.
(_Sworn before_) FEDERICO M. PIZARRO,
_Notary Public_.
IQUITOS, _May 17, 1909_.
SEÑOR W. E. HARDENBURG,--I have just received your letter of yesterday,
in which you ask me for information about my residence on the River
Putumayo, and especially concerning the things that I have witnessed. I
will inform you that during a stay of seven years up there I have
witnessed crimes, floggings, mutilations, and other outrages.
In 1902 I went to the Señores Arana of this city and asked them for work
in the rubber business which I was told they had in the Putumayo. My
application was at once accepted by Julio C. Arana, who promised me S.40
per month good food, medicines, and passage there and back. I will state
that these promises were not carried out, but were disregarded to such
an extreme that I became almost a slave of this company.
When I arrived at La Chorrera they gave me a position as fireman on the
launch _Mazán_, where I remained seven months. At the end of this time
Victor Macedo ordered me to leave my position on this launch, for he
wished me to start on a journey through the forest to enter the service
of Elías Martenegui; but as I was already aware of the crimes that they
carried out in the centre of the forest I refused.
This was sufficient for them to treat me brutally. For this reason I was
tied up with an enormous chain around my waist and put in solitary
confinement in one of the cells of La Chorrera. Here I remained ten
days, guarded by the sentries, who had orders to shoot me if I attempted
to protest against this imprisonment. Once I tried in my agony to speak
to this Victor Macedo, but upon hearing my complaints he ordered them to
give me a hundred lashes and to cover my mouth so that I could not cry
out.
Thanks to some of those who were aware of my innocence and who
protested, I was enabled to obtain my release at the end of ten days,
but with the condition that I should leave at once to enter the service
of the criminal chief of the section Atenas, Elías Martinengui.
The day after being released I set out for the section, accompanied by
the chief Martinengui and his colleague O'Donnell. After a journey of
two days we arrived at Atenas, and as Martinengui was aware that I would
not serve as an instrument for the commission of crimes he ordered me to
serve in the house. On the second day I became ill with rheumatism,
which was probably caused by the imprisonment I had suffered in a damp
and dirty cell of La Chorrera a few days before. This disease kept me
prostrate for seven months, and had it not been for two Colombian
employees who took pity on me and gave me something to eat whenever they
could, I should have died for lack of food.
During my stay in this section I have seen them murder some sixty
Indians, among men, women, and children. These poor wretches they killed
by shooting them to death, by cutting them to pieces with _machetes_ and
on great _barbacoas_ (piles of wood), upon which they secured the
victims and then set fire to them. These crimes were committed by
Martinengui himself and various of his confidential employees. I have
repeatedly heard this monster say that every Indian who did not bring in
all the rubber that he had been ordered to was sentenced to this fate.
About eight days after this occurrence Martinengui ordered a commission
to set out for the houses of some neighbouring Indians and exterminate
them, with their women and children, as they had not brought in the
amount of rubber that he had ordered. This order was strictly carried
out, for the commission returned in four days, bringing along with them
fingers, ears, and several heads of the unfortunate victims to prove to
the chief that they had carried out his orders.
After all these events I succeeded in getting permission to leave this
section and return to La Chorrera, which I reached after a painful
journey of four days. As I arrived completely disabled, owing to my
illness and the journey, they ordered me to occupy one of the cells
there.
About three days after my arrival some forty Ocaina Indians arrived as
prisoners, who were shut up and enchained in another large cell. About 4
a.m. on the next day Victor Macedo, the chief of La Chorrera, had about
eighteen employees brought in from La Sabana, and when they arrived he
ordered them to flog the unfortunate Ocainas, who were imprisoned and in
chains, to death. This order was at once carried out, but as many of
these unhappy Indians did not succumb to the lash and the club, Macedo
renewed the order, telling them to take the Indians out of the cell
where they were, drag them to the bank of the river, shoot them there,
and then set fire to them. These orders were strictly obeyed.
At about 9 a.m. they began carrying the fuel--wood and kerosene--that
was to be used for the cremation, and at about 12 a.m. one Londoño, by
order of the criminal Macedo, set fire to the unfortunate victims of the
Ocainas tribe. This smouldering pile of human flesh remained there until
about 10 a.m. on the next day. It was on one of the days of carnival in
1903 that this repugnant act of cruelty was committed, and the place was
at some 150 metres from La Chorrera, almost exactly where the building
of the "club" of La Chorrera is situated to-day. The higher employees of
this company when they get drunk toast with glasses of champagne the one
who can count the greatest number of murders.
A few days after this event I went up to the chief and manager of this
establishment, Victor Macedo, and asked him for my account, telling him
that I did not wish to work for this company any longer and that I
wanted to return to Iquitos. The reply this miserable criminal gave me
was to threaten me with more chains and imprisonment, telling me that he
was the only one who gave orders in this region and that all who lived
here were subject to his commands.
In accordance with this I had to leave La Chorrera for Santa Julia, the
chief of which was the criminal Jiménez, who ordered me to set out at
once for Providencia, where I again met Macedo. Macedo ordered me to
begin work at Ultimo Retiro, where I found as chief José Inocente
Fonseca. A few days after my arrival this chief had the Chontadura,
Ocainama, and Utiguene Indians called, and about twenty-four hours later
hundreds of Indians began to appear about the house in accordance with
this order. Then this man Inocente Fonseca grasped his carbine and
_machete_ and began the slaughter of these defenceless Indians, leaving
the ground covered with over 150 corpses, among men, women, and
children. This operation he carried out in company with six of his
confidential secretaries, some of whom used their carbines, while others
used their _machetes_. Fonseca, with his extra large chief's _machete_,
massacred right and left the defenceless wretches, who, bathed in blood,
dragged themselves over the ground, appealing in vain for mercy.
This tragedy over, Fonseca ordered all the bodies to be piled up and
burned. This scene was still more horrible, for as soon as this order
was obeyed and they were being burned cries of agony and desperation
proceeded from those victims who were still alive. Meanwhile the monster
Fonseca shouted out, "_I want to exterminate all the Indians who do not
obey my orders about the rubber that I require them to bring in!_"
Some time after this Fonseca organised a commission of twenty men (by
order of Macedo), under the command of one of his criminal confidential
secretaries[121] called Miguel Rengifo, with orders to go to the Caquetá
and to kill all the Colombians they found there. He also told them to
bring the fingers, ears, and some of the heads of the victims, preserved
in salt, as a proof that they had carried out these orders. After some
seven days the said commission returned, bringing the remains that had
been asked for. These were sent to the celebrated chiefs of this
company, Victor Macedo and Miguel S. Loayza, so that they could see for
themselves the success that the commission had met with.
The secretary, Rengifo, also informed Fonseca that one of the Indian
guides whom he had taken along with him to discover the whereabouts of
the Colombians had not behaved well. This sufficed for Fonseca to have
him hung up by one leg, together with his little son, a boy about ten
years of age. In this position they were given fifty lashes each, after
which he had the chains by which they were suspended loosened at the top
so that they would fall to the ground, striking their faces against the
floor. As soon as this was concluded Fonseca ordered one of his
employees to take his rifle, drag the unfortunate victims to the bank in
front of the house, and to shoot them there, which was done immediately.
While this was being done an Indian woman arrived from Urania to put
herself at the orders of Fonseca, but, horrified at this shocking
spectacle, she started to run away. Fonseca then ordered four of his
employees to arm themselves rapidly and kill her. When the woman had run
about fifty metres, fleeing from the danger, she fell dead, pierced by
the discharge that the four marksmen fired at her, the bullets burying
themselves in the head of the innocent victim.
To terminate my already long narration of the great crimes of the
Putumayo that I have witnessed during the seven years that I stayed
there, I shall give you the names of some of the other monsters who
dwell there, as I am ready to do if called before a court of justice.
These diabolical criminals are: Arístides Rodríguez, Aurelio Rodríguez,
Armando Norman, O'Donnell, Miguel Flores, Francisco Semanario, Alfredo
Montt, Fidel Velarde, Carlos Miranda, Abelardo Agüero, Augusto Jiménez,
Bartolomé Zumaeta, Luis Alcorta, Miguel S. Loayza, and the negro, King.
For lack of time, it is impossible for me to relate all the crimes that
these criminals have committed. But I think that if I were called some
day before a tribunal of justice I could tell the places, days, and
hours in which they deluged the region of the Putumayo with these
crimes, unequalled in the history of the entire world and committed upon
men, women, and children of all ages and of all conditions.
To bring this narrative to a close I will mention some of the crimes
committed in Santa Catalina by the chief of that section, Aurelio
Rodríguez. On the 24th of May of last year this man ordered a _compadre_
of his, called Alejandro Vásquez, to take nine men and go to the village
of the Tiracahuaca Indians and make prisoner an Indian woman who had
formerly been in his service; as soon as they had captured her they were
to kill her in the cruellest way possible.
Having received these orders, the commission set out at once and,
arriving at the village, took the Indian woman prisoner. After
proceeding a few minutes on the return journey, they tied her to a tree
alongside the road, where Vásquez had three sticks of wood, with sharp
points, prepared ...then they killed her by strangling her with a rope
around the neck.[122]
Such are the crimes constantly committed on the Putumayo by the chiefs
of sections and their assistants whose names I have mentioned. Trusting
that this account may help you in drawing the attention of justice to
this region.
DANIEL COLLANTES.
(_Sworn before_) ARNOLD GUICHARD,
_Notary Public_.
A number of documents of a similar character complete Hardenburg's
account, not included in this book, with a description of the Peruvian
attack on the Colombian rubber station of La Unión and the destruction
of its people, the Peruvians believing, or professing to believe, that
the Colombians were descending the river to attack them.