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.