The Putumayo, the Devil's Paradise: Travels in the Peruvian Amazon Region and an Account of the Atrocities Committed upon the Indians ThereinHardenburg, W. E. (Walter Ernest)
History
The Putumayo, the Devil's Paradise: Travels in the Peruvian Amazon Region and an Account of the Atrocities Committed upon the Indians Therein
Hardenburg, W. E. (Walter Ernest)
Peru -- Description and travel; Peruvian Amazon Company; Putumayo River; Rubber industry and trade -- Peru
"Fidel Velarde: a Peruvian, chief of Occidente. Alfredo Montt: a
Peruvian, chief of Atenas. Charged with atrocious crimes. Augusto
Jiménez: a Peruvian. Is a half-caste. Age about 26. Has been for years
the lieutenant of Agüero, under whom he has committed appalling crimes
upon the Boras Indians in the section Abisinia. He was sub-chief of
Morelia, and is often mentioned in the _Truth_ charges. He begged me to
listen to his statement, and said he could prove that _one_ of the
charges against him in _Truth_ was not true. On the other hand, the
evidence against him is overwhelming. Armando Normand: a Bolivian, I
believe of foreign parentage. Largely educated in England. A man of whom
nothing good can be said. The crimes committed by this man are
innumerable, and even Peruvian white men said to me that Normand had
done things none of the others had done. If any one on the Putumayo
deserves punishment this man should be made an example of. He was under
sentence of dismissal, and would have left Chorrera by the _Liberal_
with me only I objected to travel with him, and begged Señor Tizon to
send him by another vessel. José Inocente Fonseca: a Peruvian, about 28
years old. Has committed innumerable crimes upon the Indians. Abelardo
Agüero: about 35 or 36 years of age. Chief of Abisinia, of which section
he has had charge for years. Has committed innumerable crimes. Elias
Martinengui: The charges against him are many. Aurelio Rodríguez: a
Peruvian, whose crimes were vouched for by many and are widely known. A.
Vasquez Torres, or Alejandro Vasquez. Rodolfo Rodríguez: a Colombian,
charged with many murders. Miguel Flores: a Peruvian. Armando Blondel.
Aquiléo Torres: a Colombian. Innumerable crimes against this man. He was
made prisoner by Normand in January, 1907, and kept chained up for a
year by Velarde and others, and then released on condition he joined
them, and was first employed in flogging Indians. He improved on his
masters, and has killed scores, and cut ears off, and done things that
even some of the worst Peruvians say they could not tolerate. He was
once a Colombian magistrate, and was captured by Macedo's orders along
with a lot of other Colombians because they were 'poaching' on the
company's territory, and trying to get Indians to work for them. Jermin,
or Filomene, Vasquez. This man is charged with many crimes. The latest
of them only in August, 1910, when he had thirteen Indians--men, women,
and children--murdered on the road between the Caquetá and Morelia. He
boasted on his return to Abisinia 'he had left the road pretty.' Simon
Angúlo: a Colombian black man. Is the flogger or executioner of Abisinia
under Agüero. Has flogged many to death. There is also a Barbados man
named King, calls himself Armando King, who is at Encanto under Loayza.
I believe King to be as bad as any of the others almost. There are a
great many others charged with crimes whose names will be submitted."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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