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) (Witnesses to the signature) | Juan Rosas. { Julian Vásquez. { Nicanor de la Mesa. |