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.