Putumayo genocide

The Cinchona boom and the beginning of the Amazon rubber boom in 1879 encouraged exploration and settlement in the uncolonized land between Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. One of the first prominent expeditions in the region was carried out by Rafael Reyes in 1874 in search of Quina. Reyes operated in the Putumayo between 1874–84[3] and stationed his headquarters at La Sofia. Members of this expedition would later come back to the region, noting the abundance of rubber trees and indigenous tribes to potentially use as a work force. The years between 1884-1895 see a wave of new people seeking to exploit these resources. Some of these people include the Calderón hermanos, Crisóstomo Hernández and Benjamin Larrañaga.[4] The last two were Colombians and veterans of the original Reyes expedition in 1874.[5] Benjamin Larrañaga along with Hernández set up operations in what would become La Chorrera, and the Calderón hermanos in El Encanto. These men made it their business to exploit the Huitotos, the Andokes, and the Boras tribes into debt: with the goal of extracting rubber in mind.

Metal chain used by the Peruvian Amazon Company to secure the natives

In 1896, Julio César Arana was interested in expanding his small peddling business in Iquitos: and traveled to the Putumayo after hearing about the Colombians successes. A year later, Arana's biggest competitors in Peru, Carlos Fitzcarrald and Antonio de Vaca Diez would die in a boating accident in the Urubamba river. Along with the Putumayo, the basins of the Urubamba and the Madre de Dios were the biggest producers of rubber for Peru. After the collapse of the Fitzcarrald & Vaca diez enterprises and their partnership with Nícolas Suarez, the Putumayo became the only significant producer of rubber in the country.[6] Arana entered a partnership with Larrañaga, forming Larrañaga, Arana y compañia in 1902.[7] After Benjamin Larrañaga's death on December 21, 1903 Arana bought out Rafael Larrañaga's share from the comapny: "taking advantage of their ignorance and stupidity to rob them scandalously."[8] By this time, Arana was the main master of the Putumayo: only challenged by insignificant bands of Colombian rubber tappers and indigenous tribes not yet under his control. To administer his territory, the management was split between the two departments of La Chorrera and El Encanto. La Chorrera was the company headquarters along the Igaraparaná river: while the headquarters for the Caraparaná river was in El Encanto. All of the subsections and rubber tappers had their products delivered here, to later be exported through Iquitos.[9]

Indigenous Witoto workers at one of Julio César Arana’s rubber plantations

Some of the atrocities suffered by the natives at the hands of Arana's company include but are not limited to: enslavement, kidnapping, separation of families, rape, starvation, being used as target practice, physical abuse including flagellation that often results in death, burning to death, having their children 'bashed' to death, dismemberment, as well as allowing a wounded native to bleed to death from said dismemberment.[10] When they are too old, or are no longer able to work they are murdered.

Photograph of the 'concubines' of the Peruvian Amazon Company at La Chorrera, 1912.

In 1907 after successful business meetings in England, Julio Arana formed his company into the Peruvian Amazon Company, Ltd. The Peruvian government ceded to the Peruvian Amazon Company the Amazon territories north of Loreto, after the company's founder Julio César Arana purchased the land. Shortly after, private hosts of Arana – brought from Barbados –[11] which consisted of forcing Amerindians to work for him in exchange for "favors and protection", with the offer being unable to deny as disagreements led to their kidnapping by mercenaries paid by the company. The Amerindians were subjected to isolation processes in remote areas to collect rubber in inhuman conditions and if they did not meet the required amount, they were punished with death or were disappeared in "distant camps" where ninety percent of the affected Amazonian populations were annihilated.[12]

Photograph of the Barbadian John Brown, interpreter for consular commission to the Putumayo in 1912

To secure their workforce, the Peruvians and Colombians initiated slave raids, where many were either captured or killed. The slavers would bring in chiefs and their tribes, inducing them to collect rubber under the threat of death. When the chiefs refused, or did not bring in enough rubber they were murdered as an example. Through fear, and entrapping the natives into a debt relationship the exploiters managed a system of slavery. Some natives were recruited from a very young age to act as trusted killers for the company. These natives became known as the 'muchachos de confianza.' The Barbadians and 'muchachos de confianza' acted as the enforcers and executioners of the plantation managers. They managed the collection of rubber along with the tribal chiefs that were allowed to live.[13]

Natives would be sent out into the wild forest by their exploiters to collect rubber. Managers working for the Peruvian Amazon Company earned a commission, based on the amount of rubber collected by their indigenous workers. A weight quota was set in place for each plantation, dictated by a manager. Punishments varied for not meeting the quota, ranging from torture, flagellation, immolation, dismemberment, and or execution.

Flogging of a Putumayo native, carried out by the employees of Julio César Arana

On top of collecting rubber for the Company, natives were expected to provide Food, firewood, labour for clearing paths in the forest for roads in between stations, the construction of bridges and buildings, as well as clearing the forest around the stations themselves and any "every other conceivable form of demand" including giving their children or wives away to company employees. The Natives carried this work for the Company under threat of terrorization or death, with no renumeration for their efforts. [14] The Amazon Journal of Roger Casement and The Putumayo, The Devil's Paradise, by Walter Hardenburg make numerous mentions of starvation among the indigenous population.

“The Entre Ríos station is located in the center of a huge clearing of more than 900,000 m2“

Muchachos de Confianza

The "Muchachos de Confianza," or "boys of trust" were a group of Indigenous males that were trained from a young age to act as killers and torturers against the native workforce. They were often employed in areas where their tribes had long standing hostilities or were traditionally antagonistic.[15] This group was also referred to as the "racionales" or rationals, a part of an imposed hierarchy that divided the “semi-civilized” Natives and the non-civilized.[16] The Peruvian Amazon Company outfitted their muchachos with Winchesters, and shot guns. [17] [18] The muchachos risked death if they disobeyed.

Muchachos de Confianza at Entre Rios, circa 1912

In judge Romulo Paredes words they "place at the disposal of those chiefs their special instincts, such as sense of direction, scent, their sobriety, and their knowledge of the mountains, in order that nobody might escape their fury." According to Paredes the muchachos were often the authors of fictitious uprisings or similar fictional crimes of rebellion. These lies were encouraged by the fact that they were rewarded for their services.[19] Roger Casement described the system as "Boras Indians murdering Huitotos and vice versa for the pleasure, or supposed profit, of their masters, who in the end turn on these (from a variety of motives) and kill them." There were numerous cases of rebellions perpetrated by muchachos de confianza, however they were all small scale incidents. According to Casement, the muchachos de confianza outnumbered the Peruvian Amazon Company employees in the Putumayo by two to one.[20]

Photograph of the Muchachos de Confianza

The Peruvian Amazon Company had dozens of “plantations” spread throughout the Putumayo region. Many of these settlements were acquired through exploitative business deals or by force. These settlements were used as centers of control for the Company against the Natives. Slave raids were carried out from the stations to secure an indigenous work force, which would have to deliver the rubber to the nearest company station or else face torture and potentially death. The plantations usually consisted of a centralized settlement surrounded by cleared out forest. Any attack against these stations would have to face open ground with no cover from bullets. In reference to the stations located further in land, Seymour Bell, who was a member of the 1910 investigatory commission, stated that they "were all really 'forts.'" [21]

Depending on the local station, natives could find themselves on walk as far as 60 miles while carrying between 100–165 pounds of rubber. Often, these couriers were given little to no food on their journey and had to scavenge for food along the delivery route.[22] The children and family of these native rubber tappers would often travel together: if not it was likely that those dependents could starve to death.

La Chorrera

La Chorrera was an important settlement along the Igara-Parana River in the Putumayo during the rubber boom. It was situated above a waterfall, which gives the settlement its name. It was initially settled by Colombian rubber exporters but came into the possession of Julio Cesar Arana by 1903. Some of the first reports of the Putumayo genocide originated at La Chorrera in September of 1903, regarding the massacre of 25-40 Ocaina Natives. The massacre was instigated by Rafael Larrañaga and Victor Macedo. The Natives were flogged for hours, and later shot then burned.[23] Shortly after this incident Arana bought out the Larrañaga share of La Chorrera and assumed control over the Igara-Parana River.

Sometime between 1903 and 1906, Victor Macedo became the manager for Arana's company at La Chorrera, which operated as a regional headquarters on the Igara-Parana.[24] In 1906 Macedo gave the order to "kill all mutilated Indians at once for the following reasons: first, because they consumed food although they could not work; and second, because it looked bad to have these mutilated wretches running about. This wise precaution of Macedo’s makes it difficult to find any mutilated Indians there, in spite of the number of mutilations; for, obeying this order, the executioners kill all the Indians they mutilate, after they have suffered what they consider a sufficient space of time."[25]

By 1907 La Chorrera's agency retained effective control over the land between the Igara-Parana and Caqueta Rivers. The stations of La Sabana, Atenas, Entre Rios, Occidente, Abisinia, Matanzas, La China, Urania, and Ultimo Retiro delivered their rubber to La Chorrera. All of these sections were reported to practice flagellation against the Natives. On a number of occasions Natives were killed from the wounds that came from flogging. The term "Mark of Arana" refers to the scarification of wounds that came from flogging.

The ‘Mark of Arana’ on the back of an indigenous boy

The stations of Abisinia and Matanzas appear the most often in the reports of abuse collected by Walter Ernest Hardenburg. They were both established by Arana's enterprise with the help of Barbadian men around 1904. Many of the Barbadians that were employed by the company were sent on "commissions" or slave raids while employed at these two stations. Both Matanzas and Abisinia were in land stations, which meant long marches for the Natives collecting rubber. Roger Casement referred to them in 1910 as "the two worst stations." [26] Matanzas was situated near the Caqueta River, and was managed by Armando Normand from 1906-1910. The Abisinia station was situated on a tributary of the Cahuinari river and managed by Abelardo Agüero from 1905-1910. Both of these men were said to have committed innumerable crimes against the locally enslaved indigenous population.[27] In 1915 Judge Carlos A. Valcarcel implicated Normand with the destruction of the Cadanechajá, Japaja, Cadanache, Coigaro, Rosecomema, Tomecagaro, Aduije, and Tichuina tribes.[28]

Managers like Elías Martinengui, who oversaw Atenas, forced his workers to continue day and night: allowing no time to plant or gather food. Regarding the Atenas plantation, Roger Casement wrote "the whole of the population of this district had been systematically starved to death by Elias Martenengui. Martenengui worked his whole district to death, and gave the Indians no time to plant or find food. They had to work rubber or be killed, and to work and die. "[29]

Casement weighed the loads that these youths were carrying and estimated their weight at 75 kilos each. The Indians carried them over a distance of 100 km without food being given.

• The Dream of the Celt by Mario Vargas Llosa details some of Irishman Roger Casement's experiences in investigating the genocide
• The Vortex by José Eustasio Rivera is based on the events. Specifically the events portrayed through the narration of Don Clemente Silva.
• Embrace of the Serpent directed by Ciro Guerra includes characters affected by the genocide