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.