File No. 823.5048/371.
The Acting Secretary of
State to the American Consul at
Iquitos, Peru.
No. 1.]
Department of State,
Washington,
April 6, 1912.
Sir: In arriving at the decision to reopen
the American Consulate at Iquitos, Peru, the Department has had
primarily in view the advisability of securing information as to the
labor conditions along the affluents of the upper Amazon, and
particularly the Putumayo River. Reports transmitted to the
Department by Mr. Eberhardt, formerly American Consul at Iquitos,
during 1907 and 19081 indicated that those directing the gathering of rubber
in the territory claimed by Peru to be within her jurisdiction were
responsible for practices of exploitation of the native Indians
which threatened the complete extinction of the primitive races.
Subsequent to the receipt of the reports of Mr. Eberhardt by the
Department the British Government, which was in possession of
information concerning the horrible condition existing in the
forests of the Putumayo within the concession of a British
corporation, directed His Britannic Majesty’s Consul General at Rio
de Janeiro, Sir Roger Casement, to make personal examinations of the
situation. Previous to this time this Government had been in
consultation with the British Embassy at Washington, with a view to
cooperation in representations to the Government of Peru in order
that the Peruvian Government might undertake a thorough
investigation of the subject and obtain such list-hand information
regarding the brutal extermination of the native inhabitants of one
of the important outlying Provinces of Peru as would impel it to
take the remedial measures that the circumstances, appeared
imperatively to demand. Owing to the imminence during the early
months of 1910 of an outbreak of hostilities between Equador and
Peru because of conflicting claims of these countries regarding the
territory of which the Putumayo region was a part, the Government of
the United States at that time deemed it wise to postpone
communication with the Government of Peru on the matter until the
outstanding dispute, which it was then hoped was approaching
settlement, had been terminated. It was felt that, the international
situation having become tranquilized and the question
[Page 1244]
regarding the title over
the upper Amazon region decided, such representations as the
Government of the United States might determine to make in the
matter would more certainly produce the results which it was desired
to bring about.
During the early part of 1911 the Department was informed, through
the British Embassy at Washington, that as a result of the efforts
of the British Minister at Lima, acting under instructions from his
Government, the Peruvian Government had appointed a commission to
proceed to the Putumayo region and report on conditions there found
to exist. The Department, to which the cause of the defenseless
natives of the Putumayo had so strongly appealed for humanitarian
reasons, had received information from time to time of the views of
the British Government in the matter and in regard to the steps
which the British Minister at Lima had been instructed to take.
During the months of April and May of the past year the British
Ambassador at Washington transmitted, for the confidential
information of the Department, copies of three reports of His
Britannic Majesty’s Consul General at Rio de Janeiro, which
presented the horrible details collected by personal observation of
the methods employed in the collection of rubber by the employees of
the rubber company in the Putumayo district. These reports relate
the appalling brutalities and atrocities from which the native
rubber gatherers of the forest of the Putumayo were suffering.
Copies of these pamphlets and other reports of more recent dates are
attached for your information and for the files of the
Consulate.1
On the 17th of July last the American Minister at Lima was instructed
to express to the Peruvian Foreign Office, at a favorable
opportunity, the pleasure that was felt by this Government upon
learning of the steps initiated by Peru, inspired by the high ideals
of serving humanity, to put an effective end to the excesses in the
Peruvian rubber forests of the Amazon Valley by dispatching a
judicial investigating commission to the Putumayo. The Minister was
also directed to express the hope that adequate and vigorous
measures would follow to put an end to the reported barbarous system
in vogue, which threatened to accomplish the complete extinction of
a defenseless people. It was at this time pointed out that Peru
would undoubtedly understand the friendly spirit prompting a mention
of this matter by the Government of the United States and would
realize that there was no disposition or intention present to offend
by referring to a matter concerning the internal affairs of
Peru.
It has subsequently developed from information before the British
Government, that the action taken by the Peruvian Government in
organizing this commission has almost entirely failed of its object.
The corrupt influence of those responsible for the conditions in the
Putumayo has been seemingly so powerful as to defeat the laudable
ends of the Central Government. As a result a few of the underlings
have been arrested while no serious effort has been made to
apprehend
[Page 1245]
or punish the
leaders. It is alleged that the local administrative and judicial
authorities residing at Iquitos have afforded such improper
protection to those guilty of the atrocities systematically
practiced upon the natives as to make it impossible to bring the
criminals to justice without a thorough carrying out of drastic
administrative local reforms. Unless the Central Government of Peru
takes a vigorous and earnest stand it is to be apprehended that the
practices which, it is understood, have been temporarily suspended
as a consequence of the measures already taken by the Government,
may be resumed in all their former intensity until the native tribes
will have become completely exterminated.
The Department has been in recent close communication with the
British Foreign Office, following several personal conferences with
Sir Roger Casement at the Department. It appeared that the British
Government was seriously contemplating the publication of the
evidence on the Putumayo in its possession in the belief that such
publicity might provide an effective remedy to the shocking
situation. However, at the suggestion of this Government, the
publication of the reports was withheld pending further
representations to the Government of Peru on the subject. The
Department therefore informed the American Minister at Lima of the
apparently well-founded rumor that no really serious efforts are
being made to prosecute those responsible for the atrocities in the
Putumayo, and to instruct the Legation to cooperate with the British
Legation in taking the matter up again unofficially and informally
with the Peruvian Minister for Foreign Affairs. In these
representations the American Minister was directed to advise the
Government of Peru that it was understood that the official reports
on the situation in the Putumayo probably could not be withheld much
longer from publication, the details of which inevitably would be
exploited in all parts of the world by the press. The American
Minister was directed to say that unless drastic and effective
action demanded by the circumstances was taken by Peru previous to
the publication of this evidence, which appeared imminent, such an
exposure of the situation as almost surely must follow might induce
public opinion of the world to believe that Peru had shown herself
unable effectively to exercise sovereign rights over a region to
which Peru lays claim and the ultimate rights to [sic] which Peru
desires to submit for determination to arbitration.
The British and American representatives at Lima had a conference
during the early days of February with the Peruvian President and
Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Peruvian Government stated that it
was endeavoring by all means within its power to bring to justice
those charged with the crimes in the Putumayo, and welcomed
suggestions as to a system of reforms which would guarantee adequate
protection to the Indians within its jurisdiction. The difficulties
of the problem presented to the central administration were
emphasized—the unsatisfactory communication between Lima and I
quitos; the difficulty of finding men worthy of being intrusted with
administrative functions in that outlying region the barrier
presented by the topographical character of the wild region of the
upper Amazon; and the almost absolute impossibility of counteracting
the influence of those identified with the continuation of the
present iniquitous system.
[Page 1246]
Under the circumstances at present existing and after careful
consideration of the reports which were received from the American
Legation at Lima and the information transmitted by the British
representative, kindly furnished through the British Embassy here,
the Department has informed Ambassador Bryce that it deferred to the
judgment of the British Government in fixing the time for the
publication of the Casement reports. The Embassy at the same time
was informed that the Department could not but believe that the
Peruvian Government should properly regard any publicity given to
the matter as in accord with the purposes so frequently enunciated
by the Peruvian Government of doing everything within its power to
put an end to the inhuman treatment of the Indian populations.
Further, it was felt by the Department that the publication was
strongly recommended in view of the efforts that are being made to
procure funds by public subscription making it possible to establish
in the Putumayo region missions for work among the Indians. The
British Government now states that it will proceed with the
immediate publication of the reports in its possession regarding the
situation on the Putumayo.
You will make yourself thoroughly conversant with the local situation
upon arriving at your post and keep the Department fully and
promptly informed regarding this subject, in which the Department is
taking the keenest interest.
You will, upon consultation and cooperation with the British Consul
at Iquitos, make arrangements to visit, at intervals which may in
your judgment appear advisable, the rubber stations along the
Putumayo region in order that the Department may have before it your
views based upon personal observation. For this purpose a special
allowance of not to exceed $500 is hereby granted you.
I am [etc.]
The American Consul at
Iquitos to the Secretary of
State.
American Consulate,
Iquitos,
November 30,
1907.
Sir: The difficulty I experienced
after receiving my appointment to this post in obtaining
reliable information relative to conditions in general in this
region leads me to believe that the results of certain studies I
have made regarding the Indians of Peru may be of some practical
value and interest to others, as well as to the Department, more
particularly as the most of these tribes live across the Andes,
or in that part of Peru which would seem naturally to form the
territory of which this consular district is comprised. An extra
copy is also sent, with the idea that ‘there may be some item of
interest to the National Museum. I had hoped to make a more
thorough study of this interesting subject from actual
observation among the different tribes, securing specimens of
their weapons of warfare, clothing, utensils, etc., but ill
health has prevented any systematic work along such lines. I
have been fortunate, however, in being able to make several
trips among different tribes with Mr. George M. von Hassel, thus
gaining first-hand a limited amount of information
[Page 1247]
on the subject, but
the greater part comes from Mr. von Hassel himself, who, it
seems to me, is probably the best authority on the subject and
better qualified than any other person to give reliable data,
and talk knowingly regarding the matter. * * *
The average Peruvian would no doubt show resentment at the
statement that slavery exists in Peru, yet such is in reality
the case with most of the Indians who come in contact with the
whites. For the most part, however, they are not treated
harshly, and in their submissive way, with enough to eat and
drink, seem to be contented and probably as well as when roaming
the woods. Their existence might be termed a system of peonage.
The Indian enters the employ of some rubber gatherer, often
willingly, though not infrequently by force, and immediately
becomes indebted to him for food, etc. According to Peruvian
law, a person so indebted to another can be held and obliged to
work till that debt is paid, and in these instances the employer
sees to it that the employee never receives sufficient wages to
pay off his indebtedness, and he is therefore always practically
a slave. A person can, by paying off this indebtedness, secure
the servant, who in this way becomes similarly the slave of the
payer of the debt. However, the scarcity of labor and the ease
with which the Indians can usually escape and live on the
natural products of the forest oblige the owners to treat them
with some consideration. The Indians realize this and their work
is not at all satisfactory, judging from our standards. . This
was particularly noticeable during a recent visit I made to a
mill where “cachassa” or aguardiente is extracted from cane. The
men seemed to work when and how they chose, requiring a liberal
amount of the liquor each day (of which they are particularly
fond), and if this is not forthcoming or they are treated
harshly in any way they run to the forests.
The employer has the law on his side, and if he can find the
runaway ho is at liberty to bring him back; but the time lost
and the almost useless task of trying to track the Indian
through the dense forests and small streams makes it far the
more practical that the servant be treated with consideration in
the first place. It is not uncommon for launches returning from
trips up the river to bring Indians who have been taken from
their tribes and sell or present them to households in Iquitos,
where they are kept as servants. They are usually quick to learn
what is expected of them and may often be said to be better off
than in their former state. During a recent trip which I made an
Indian woman and child, who had been sold for $80, was brought
aboard the launch and the woman seemed less concerned about
leaving her people, her new surroundings or probable fate than
an intelligent dog might have done. On another trip a little
girl of about 8 years was brought aboard by her father and sold
for a small amount of silver and a half dozen cans of
sardines.
Through intermarriage with the whites, disease, and battle, the
Indians of Peru are rapidly disappearing, and I am told that
statistics compiled for a given period during recent years show
that their numbers are diminishing at the rate of 5 per cent per
year; that in 20 years the wild Indian of the Upper Amazon will
have disappeared almost entirely, and it seems only a question
of time when the dying races of South American Indians must meet
the fate of their brothers of North America, and the two in
common, once the rulers of two continents, become only scattered
remnants of their former greatness, if not entirely engulfed by
the wave which seems sweeping over them.
I have [etc.]
The American Consul at
Iquitos to the Secretary of
State.
American Consulate,
Iquitos,
December 3,
1907.
Sir: In view of certain articles which
have appeared in different periodicals at home at different
times during the past few months (India Rubber World, of May,
September, and October, and New York Times of September 6 and
[Page 1248]
19) regarding
the exploitation by an American company, under concession from
the Colombian Government, of a large tract of rubber lands in
the Upper Putomayo (or lea) and Yapura (or Caqueta) Rivers
district, a territory which is now in dispute between that
Government and Peru, the results of a trip of inspection which I
recently made to that part of the district at present controlled
by the company which has a complete monopoly of all Putomayo
rubber shipments through Iquitos may be interesting. Out of an
absence of eight weeks from Iquitos, six weeks were spent in the
Putomayo River and its two branches, the Igaraparana and
Caraparana (sometimes written Carapanama), where the two
principal posts of the local company of J. C. Arana y Hermanos
are located, and while it is by no means presumed that a
thorough knowledge of existing local conditions could be gained
in so short a time, it is presumed that one could gain a
knowledge of many phases of those conditions—such as the manner
of extracting rubber, the class of work, conditions of the
Indian, health conditions, feeling between the Peruvians and
Colombians of the district—which a promoting company would
probably not make public, and which the Department, at least,
might be interested in knowing. * * *
The business is conducted from Iquitos, where a considerable
office force is employed, though a resident manager is stationed
at both posts, each of whom has complete charge of a given
territory and to whom the foreman of certain specified tracts of
territory, or sections as they are called, must report. These
foremen, together with their assistants, all of whom are armed,
number approximately 200, and they have control, by “rule of the
rifle,” over approximately 10,000 Indians—men, women, and
children, principally of the Huitoto, Bora, Ocaino, and Andoque
Tribes. * * *
These foremen work on a commission, and while their contracts are
not all alike, the men are all making a great deal of money, at
the same time spending it most freely and gambling much of it
away during their three visits a year to the post, when they
come from the forests with their hundreds of Indians laden with
rubber, the results of some three months’ work. * * *
When the Indians flee to the forests, expeditions headed by armed
whites and made up of Indians of neighboring tribes toward whom
the runaways have always been hostile go in pursuit, and so,
hunted by the whites and surrounded on all sides by hostiles of
their own race, they are eventually killed or brought back
captives to work as slaves of the whites, though of course some
do escape. The word “slavery” is used advisedly, for the
condition of the Indians is in reality nothing else. * * *
In the vicinity of Chorrera considerable land has been cleared
and it is an interesting, yet withal a sad sight, to see these
Indians—once the owners of this vast region—men, women, and
children alike, now slaves, filing along in the distance over
this clearing, heavily laden with rubber from their native
forests, which they lay at the feet of their conquerors. As has
been said before, these overseers are in reality armed guards
who compel the Indians to work, and who are usually illiterate
whites, receiving the equivalent of from $25 to $50, United
States currency, and board per month, and capable of most any
brutal deed. About two years ago a number of negroes were
brought from Barbados for these positions, but they soon
sickened of the brutalities they were obliged by their superiors
to inflict upon the poor Indians, and practically all have
worked their way back to Iquitos or Barbados. They have
frightful stories to tell and have no hesitancy in telling all
they have been through.
As before mentioned, the foremen receive a percentage on the
product delivered at the post, and naturally drive the Indians
as hard as possible, which has been responsible for much of the
ill treatment of the Indians. One negro told me that he had been
compelled, under penalty of receiving the same punishment
himself if he did not carry out the orders of his superior, to
punish Indians by all sorts of cruelties; in fact, he showed me
a scar which he said he had received when he first began work
for having interfered with the foreman, who was beating and
kicking an Indian woman. He told me, further, (hat he had seen a
foreman shoot an Indian through the foot for not having brought
a satisfactory amount of rubber from the forest, and he was told
to return to the forest, wounded as he was, and bring more, or
he would be killed. Women and children are also obliged to work,
and the same negro told of a woman whose baby seemed to
interfere with her bringing in a sufficient amount of rubber,
and the baby was therefore killed by dashing its brains out
against a tree and the woman told to go to work again or she
would be similarly treated. A man of standing here in Iquitos
says he saw a woman, pregnant,
[Page 1249]
disemboweled with a stroke of a sharp
machete. Such stories, almost without number, could be cited,
and I have no doubt they could be proven, for it is common rumor
here that such conditions do exist there, and from what I myself
saw I am convinced of it. For example, a negro from French
Guiana brutally beat and bruised an old Indian in my presence
till I went beyond my right and interfered. Another employee, a
Spanish clerk in the storehouse, knocked down his little servant
(they all have boy slaves to wait on them), broke a rib and two
teeth with brutal kicks, and I also saw poor Indians, mere
skeletons, in chains, living on farina (dried yucca meal) and
water, thus detained as examples to others because they had
tried to run away and be free again in their own native forests.
The foremen themselves at first talked very freely with me about
the severe and even brutal measures which they considered
necessary to adopt to keep the Indians under control, but later,
evidently having been instructed by the manager, they tried to
persuade me that such talk had all been an exaggeration. Of
course as consul of another Government, I had no comment to
make, nor as a plain American citizen could I have had anything
to say on the subject. The Peruvians are seeking to get the
benefit of the Indian’s labor before he disappears entirely, and
to that end do not hesitate to perform the most outrageous acts
of cruelty.
It at first seems incredible that so many Indians can be kept
under control by so few armed men, and there seems little doubt
that they could successfully resist for years to come the
invasion of the white man, poorly armed as they are in
comparison, if they had any sort of organization or union, but
the different tribes and subtribes, enemies for centuries, will
not lay aside their jealousies and differences to unite and
fight against their common enemy. Thus it is that, as often
happens, when numbers of them run away, expeditions made up of
Indians of another tribe who have been lifetime enemies of the
fugitives are sent after them and, in the end, the runaways are
usually recaptured. Not infrequently the leader of a certain
group, or captain, as he is called, will even hunt down his own
people who may have tried to escape, in this manner further
ingratiating himself in favor with the whites and receiving more
than ordinary consideration and good treatment from them for his
traitorous action toward his own kind. Naturally the poor
chances the Indians have with their inferior arms (lances,
spears, etc.) of any successful resistance and the rough
treatment they have received from the whites have cowed their
spirit to a certain extent. * * *
I have [etc.]
