Julio César Arana

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Arana and the second or maternal family name is del Águila.
Julio César Arana
Julio César Arana del Águila. Estudio Courret. Lima, c. 1912
Senator of the Republic of Peru for Loreto
In office
July 28, 1922 – October 12, 1929
Mayor of Iquitos
In office
1902–1903
Personal details
Born
Julio César Arana

(1864-04-12)April 12, 1864
Rioja, Peru
DiedOctober 7, 1952(1952-10-07) (aged 87)
Lima, Peru
Spouse
Eleanora Zumaeta
​
(m. 1887)​

Julio César Arana del Águila, (April 12, 1864 – October 7, 1952) was a Peruvian entrepreneur and politician. A major figure in the rubber industry in the upper Amazon basin, he is probably best known in the English-speaking world through Walt Hardenburg [de]'s 1909 articles in the British magazine Truth, accusing him of practices that amounted to a terroristic reign of slavery over the natives of the region. A company of which he was the general manager, the Peruvian Amazon Company, was investigated by a commission in 1910 on which Roger Casement served. He was appointed its liquidator in September 1911.[1] He later blamed the downfall of the company on the British directors for neglecting to manage the Peruvian staff,[2] of whom he was chief. Arana was the main perpetrator of the Putumayo genocide: where his company exploited and exhausted Indigenous populations to death, in exchange for rubber.

Arana became a senator for the Department of Loreto from 1922 to 1926 and, as a result of the Salomon-Lozano Treaty, signed in Lima in 1927, Peru transferred his properties in the Putumayo to Colombia. He died at age 88, penniless, in a small house in Magdalena del Mar, near Lima.[3]

Early life[edit]

Julio César Arana was born to Martín Arana in Rioja Peru, on April 12, 1864. The family was from Cajamarca, in the north of Peru and close to the Amazonian forests to the east. Martín Arana made a career out of making, and selling straw hats in Rioja.[4] His son, Julio joined him at age nine, and spent the next few years learning about the trade. At age 15, his father sent him to Cajamarca to learn bookkeeping and general business administration, rather than see his son go to war against Chile.[5][4] After two years in Cajamarca, Julio ventured to the jungle, confident that he knew enough about business to take advantage of new opportunities. The rubber boom had just started to affect the Amazon, and was years away from its peak at this point.[5]

Julio decided to move to the town of Yurimaguas, which was on the Huallaga River, a tributary of the Marañon River. From there, he was able to sell his father's hats through the Amazon basin. He wanted to invest into the rubber trade, believing that he could make a lot more money. However he lacked the funds to invest for a business venture. In 1888, he married Eleanora Zumaeta: they had known each other as children in Rioja.[6] He was able to secure some funding out of the convenient marriage: and invited his new brother-in-law, Pablo Zumaeta to join him in business. The two opened up a trading post in Tarapoto, which was a district rich in rubber and close to Yurimaguas.[7] The very next year, they bought a portion of a rubber forest near Yurimaguas.[8]

Arana and Zumaeta soon traveled for the Ceará region in Brazil, which had recently suffered a dust bowl and famine. They secured and hired twenty men, taking advantage of their destitute situation these men would be the first debt peons of Arana, exploited in exchange for their services.[9][a] In 1889, Arana invited another brother-in-law, Abel Alarco, to join him at Iquitos, where they could set up business in the city. Arana originally focused his business on peddling, and transportation around Iquitos, and became specifically interested in rubber forests in the Putumayo basin. Julio adopted the practices of the Colombians in the region, who made it their business to enslave and exploit the natives to extract rubber.[10][11][b]

A group of Huitoto natives, forced to work at 'Colonia India', a plantation belonging to Julio César Arana

Rubber baron[edit]

Julio César Arana in 1907

Julio Arana started multiple enterprises in collaboration with different business partners in the 1890s. Two of these notable partners include Juan B. Vega and Luis F. Morey, who established the Vega, Morey y Compania in 1890.[c] Another company founded in the same year was Arana y Vega Ltda. This relationship help to facilitate transportation for Arana's expanding enterprise.[13] In 1896 Arana moved his family to Iquitos.[14][11] That same year, The Galvez steamship, owned by Arana and captained by his brother Lizardo, travelled down the Caraparana River and purchased six tons of rubber from Colombians that were settled there.[15][16] Arana also began trading with Benjamin Larrañaga and his son Rafael in 1896.[17] The Larrañaga's owned La Chorrera, a settlement on the Igaraparaná where they enslaved the native population to extract rubber. Some of the enslaved native groups used for labor in the Putumayo include: Huitoto, Andoque, Bora, Yurias and Ocaina.[18] Sometime in 1898, Julio opened up a commercial house in Iquitos for his enterprise.[19] His largest competitor in the city, Carlos Fitzcarrald, drowned in an accident on the Urubamba River the previous year.[20]

Arana soon began peddling firearms, liqueur, and goods with other Colombians along the Putumayo, negotiating business with as many of them as possible.[11] In 1900, the business partnership would turn into the Larrañaga, Arana y compañia. By 1902, Arana's enterprise accounted for 8 percent of Iquitos total rubber exports: and about 5 percent of its total imports. In this year, he became the mayor of Iquitos due to his success and reputation. By this time, most of the Colombian entrepreneurs in the region were on Arana's books. If the Colombians in the Putumayo wanted to sell rubber at all, they would have to go to Iquitos. From Iquitos, they managed to secure the supplies they needed and negotiate credit. Arana facilitated everything for them.[21] In 1903 Julio established the J.C. Arana y Hermanos firm,[17] which had its headquarters in Iquitos.[22][23]

The Liberal steamboat belonging to the Peruvian Amazon Company, embarking rubber

After the death of Benjamin Larrañaga in 1903, Arana bought out the son, Rafael's share.[17][24][d] Around that time, Arana changed the name to J.C. Arana y Hermanos. There was a headquarter branch in Iquitos, managed by Pablo Zumaeta, and another in Manaus directed by Lizarado Arana.[24] Zumaeta was general manager of the company: responsible for operations in the Putumayo: while Lizardo was responsible for commercial transactions in the commercial hub that was Manaus. After securing La Chorrera from the Larrañaga's, he bought out Gregorio Calderón[25] and the Calderón hermanos at El Encanto. From 1904 onwards, Arana and his company annexed Colombian rubber properties,[26] "amounting to more than 40 settlements".[24][e] They carried this out through manipulation, or force.

In 1904, Arana sent his brother-in-law Abel Alarco to take advantage of the economic crisis occurring in Barbados. Barbados was a frequent stop along the Booth Steam Ship Co. route that took rubber to Liverpool. Over the course of 9 months somewhere around 200 men from the island became indentured to the company, initially for a period of 2 years.[27][24] Some of these Barbadian men protested to the British vice-consul in Manaus when they found out what the nature of their work entailed, however they were told they must fulfill the contracts they signed with Arana's company. Some of the Barbadians refused to do so, and they were taken into custody by local police and escorted onto a boat that would take them to the Putumayo.[28][29]

The main house at El Encanto, a rubber plantation belonging to the Peruvian Amazon Company.

When the Barbadians arrived to the Putumayo region, they were used as enforcers against the natives. These men were foreigners with no connection to the people or land in the Putumayo, and they stood out. It was virtually impossible for them to run away from the territory. At the end of 1904, an expedition was sent out with some of the Barbadian men to set up the plantation of Matanzas. Armando Normand accompanied them, and would later become the manager of that station.[30][31][32] Matanzas was originally established as a joint venture between a Colombian named Ramon Sanchez and Arana.[33] An investigation later carried out by Roger Casement determined that the Barbadians had committed horrible atrocities at the behest of their overseers. They were the perpetrators of many floggings and murders committed against the natives. The investigation determined, that when the Barbadians complained or were defiant, they "received ill-treatment and were subjected to torture, for which they do not appear to have received any compensation as British subjects."[34][35][36] The Liberal steamship was acquired by Arana's enterprise sometime between December of 1904 and 1906.[f] It was estimated that this ship cost between £6,000-7,000 a year to operate.[37] By 1906 around 1,400,000 pounds of rubber was exported from the Putumayo by Arana's enterprise.[38][39][g]

Arana continued his campaign against the Colombians, and by 1907 most of them had disappeared. El Dorado, La Uníon, and La Reserva were the only notable Colombian settlements in the Putumayo and they were raided by Arana's firm in 1908.[41][42] The American engineer Walter Ernest Hardenburg was travelling through the region, on the way to Bolivia and was captured by the company around that time. He witnessed the massacre at La Uníon and subsequent atrocities. His friend, Walter Perkins, relayed to him the atrocities he had seen at La Reserva: and the murder of David Serrano. The two eventually made it to Iquitos, where Hardenburg was approached by Miguel Galvez. Galvez was the son of Benjamin Saldaña Rocca, who was an activist in protest against Arana.[21]

Enslaved natives with a load of rubber weighing 75 kilos, they have journeyed 100 kilometers with no food given

Saldaña originally filed a criminal petition against 18 members of the J.C. Arana y Hermanos company, and urged the local courts to conduct an investigation.[43][44] When he felt ignored, Saldaña founded the newspapers La Sancion on August 22, 1907: and La Felpa on August 31. The newspapers both published revelations and information that came from ex-employees of Arana. La Felpa used a political cartoon at its center to make its point. The very first issue of La Felpa had four different graphics captioned: "The Crimes of the Putumayo: FLAGELLATIONS, MUTILATIONS, TORTURES, AND TARGET PRACTICE." The last issue of Saldaña Rocca's publications came out on February 22, 1908. He was tipped off that law enforcement was on their way to escort him out of Iquitos. Saldaña managed to collect his documents and store them with the mother of his son for safe keeping. Eventually, he got word to his son Miguel Galvez to give his work to someone who would continue the crusade against Arana. The son, decided to give that work to W.E. Hardenburg, who had arrived three weeks earlier in Iquitos. The documents inspired Hardenburg to continue investigating and exposing Arana's company.[45]

Illustration on the first issue of 'LA FELPA,' a newspaper published by Saldaña

In May of 1908 there was a civil conflict between Arana's company and David Cazes, the British consul in Iquitos and the owner of the Iquitos Trading Company. Both firms had a claim to an estate named Pensamiento, as its owner had recently died and owed money to both companies. Apparently Arana was interested in this property because it was the best route of escape for natives fleeing from the Putumayo towards the Napo River.[46] A few Huitoto natives escaped to Pensamiento, where they protested against their treatment to previous owners brother, who brought that issue to Cazes. According to Cazes, these natives were "dreadfully scarred from flogging" and he tried to have them admitted as evidence in court at Iquitos, however the local prefect "Zapata and the Court had these Indians sent away" and the whole matter was covered up.[47] Cazes managed to sell all of the rubber on the property before a commissario named Amadeo Burga arrived to seize the estate for Arana. Afterwards, the courts issued an arrest order for Cazes and soldiers were sent to his house, which was also the British consulate.[48][h] Cazes was given an ultimatum by prefect Zapata, which was to either pay a £800 fee and surrender the claim to Pensamiento, or else his house would be invaded by authorities who would then arrest him, so Cazes decided to pay the money to the courts.[49] The natives who ran away to Pensamiento were collected by the commissario Burga and taken back to the Putumayo estates.[48]

In 1910 English consul Roger Casement was sent to the Putumayo to investigate claims that Barbadians were perpetrating atrocities against natives while working for Arana's company.[50][51] Previously in 1904, Casement wrote an investigative report in the Congo Free State, which exposed the Congo genocide to the world. He had no jurisdiction to investigate the natives themselves, since they were not English subjects. Through the Barbadian overseers, Casement was able to learn about the atrocities occurring in the region. Casement collected thirty depositions from the Barbadian employees, which were full of criminal indictments. The report compiled by Roger was released in 1911, containing accounts by perpetrators and victims of the atrocities.[52][53] The report sparked outraged, and eventually led to the liquidation of the Peruvian Amazon Company in 1913. Julio César Arana and other important figures with roles in the Putumayo genocide were never persecuted.

Illustration of Julio César Arana, published by the 'La Felpa' newspaper in 1908.

As a testament to the popularity of Arana's business partners in Iquitos, Pablo Zumaeta became the mayor of the city in 1912 and 1914, then between the years of 1922-1923.[54] When Victor Macedo protested against his arrest warrant in Lima, the judge who issued the order was dismissed from office. The 236 other arrest warrants issued against Arana's employees were also dropped. Arana continued to export rubber under the name of a business partner, Cecilio Hernandez. Rubber from the Putumayo continued to be shipped towards Iquitos and then Britain.[55] Years after the scandal Julio César Arana became the senator of Loreto.[22]

Muchachos de Confianza, indigenous killers and overseers for the Peruvian Amazon Company

Later life[edit]

After the scandal and liquidation of the company, Arana retained a significant portion of the companies property, as well as the native work force. He was still popular enough in his home country to become a senator of Peru in 1921. That year, the Peruvian government gave Arana legal titles to his properties in the Putumayo. Julio César was one of the strongest opponents of the Salomón-Lozano Treaty, which gave Colombia the rights to the Putumayo region instead of Peru. In compensation for his loses, Julio wanted £2,000,000 from the Colombian government but they refused. The two governments did agree to respect concessions made to private individuals though.[56]

Before the border could change, Arana, along with Miguel S. Loayza and Carlos Loayza, organized a series of forced migrations.[57] Over the next 8 years, natives from the right bank of the Putumayo were relocated in groups of 50-100 to the Ampiyacu basin in Loreto, Peru. At least 6,719 people from the Witotos, Boras, Andoques, Ocainas, and Muinanes tribes were reloacted. Carlos Loayza stated that 50% of that group died off during the relocation: with malaria, small pox, measles, and beriberi.[58]

Years later Arana had a role in aggravating the political conflict into the Colombia-Peru war. He was apart of the group of aristocrats who founded the 'Patriotic Junta of Loreto.' Julio's daughter was a part of the Junta, as well as his son, Luis A. Arana. The Arana's provided firearms for a makeshift force, which captured the port of Leticia on September 1, 1932. A cease-fire was agreed upon four months later, which reestablished the status quo of the treaty. [59]

Arana sold his Colombian land concessions in 1939 during the Great Depression. Either from making a 'bad mistake' or being swindled, Julio seemingly came out of the situation penniless. A large amount of the money meant for Arana from this deal was never paid out during his lifetime.

For the last years of his life, Julio lived at Magdalena del Mar, a suburb of Lima. Julio César Arana died at 88 years old in September 1952, with 'his passing virtually unnoticed by the public.' The grave of Arana is made from cement: and located in a common cemetery used for the poor.[60] In 1964 the Colombian government paid the remaining sum of 160,000 dollars from the Putumayo estate sale to Víctor Israel, who was an ally and long term business partner of Arana. [61]

"Julio César Arana, his wife Eleanora Zumaeta and other companions." Photograph circa 1940.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ By the time the men from Ceará got off of the boat, they owed Arana £30.[9]
  2. ^ "his company methods led to massive tribal extermination." Angus Mitchell, editor of the Amazon Journal of Roger Casement.[11]
  3. ^ In 1900 Morey's own enterprise would become the fourth largest exporting firm in Iquitos. The next year, in 1901, he became senator for the department of Loreto.[12]
  4. ^ "taking advantage of their ignorance and stupidity to rob them scandalously."[17]
  5. ^ This includes the estates of Nueva Granada, Argelia, Remolino and the property of Ordonez y Martinez on the Caraparana River at Union.
  6. ^ The Liberal first arrived in Iquitos in December of 1904.
  7. ^ In 1906, the Iquitos customs house declared that there was 644,897 kilograms of rubber transported from the Putumayo to England.[40]
  8. ^ They were ordered to surround the house and arrest Cazes if he tried to leave.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "No. 28539". The London Gazette. 6 October 1911. p. 7306.
  2. ^ "The Peruvian Amazon Company: No Return to Shareholders", The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), Mar 20 1914. retr 2012 9 24 from http://trove.nla.gov.au
  3. ^ Charles C. Mann (2011), 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, Random House Digital, pp. 258–260, ISBN 978-0-307-59672-7
  4. ^ a b Collier 1968, p. 39.
  5. ^ a b Goodman 2009, p. 36.
  6. ^ Collier 1968, p. 38,43.
  7. ^ Collier 1968, p. 43.
  8. ^ Goodman 2009, pp. 36–37.
  9. ^ a b Collier 1968, p. 46.
  10. ^ Goodman 2009.
  11. ^ a b c d Casement 1997, p. 69.
  12. ^ Barclay, Frederica; Santos-Granero, Fernando (2002). La frontera domesticada historia económica y social de Loreto, 1850-2000. Fondo Editorial PUCP. pp. 99, 100. ISBN 978-9972-42-404-5.
  13. ^ Barclay, Frederica; Santos-Granero, Fernando (2002). La frontera domesticada historia económica y social de Loreto, 1850-2000. Fondo Editorial PUCP. pp. 98–99. ISBN 978-9972-42-404-5.
  14. ^ Collier 1968, p. 50.
  15. ^ Chirif & Chaparro 2009, p. 87.
  16. ^ Casement 2003, p. 688.
  17. ^ a b c d Hardenburg 1912, p. 200.
  18. ^ Hardenburg 1912, p. 150,200.
  19. ^ Thomson 1913, p. 49.
  20. ^ Casement 1997, p. 244.
  21. ^ a b Goodman 2009, pp. 37–39.
  22. ^ a b Goodman 2009, p. 269.
  23. ^ Thomson 1913, p. 17.
  24. ^ a b c d Goodman 2009, p. 38.
  25. ^ Goodman 2009, p. 41.
  26. ^ Thomson 1913, p. 9.
  27. ^ Casement 1997, p. 94.
  28. ^ Slavery in Peru 1913, p. 229.
  29. ^ Casement 1997, p. 331.
  30. ^ Parliamentary Papers Volume 68, p. 11,32.
  31. ^ Casement 1997, p. 260.
  32. ^ Slavery in Peru 1913, p. 229-230.
  33. ^ Parliamentary Papers: Select Committee on the Putumayo. House of Commons or House of Lords Papers. 1913. p. 613.
  34. ^ Hardenburg 1912, p. 40.
  35. ^ MacQueen, Peter (September 1913). "A Criminals Life Story The Career of Armando Normand by Peter Macqueen". THE NATIONAL MAGAZINE, AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY Volume XXXVIII: April to September, 1913. 38 (38): 943. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  36. ^ Goodman 2009, p. 67,277.
  37. ^ Casement 1997, p. 443.
  38. ^ Collier 1968, p. 63.
  39. ^ Casement 2003, p. 656,727.
  40. ^ Casement 2003, p. 656.
  41. ^ Hardenburg 1912, p. 144.
  42. ^ Goodman 2009, pp. 23–24.
  43. ^ Valcárcel 2004, p. 391.
  44. ^ Goodman 2009, p. 44.
  45. ^ Goodman 2009, pp. 44–47.
  46. ^ Casement 1997, p. 110.
  47. ^ Casement 1997, p. 455-456.
  48. ^ a b Casement 1997, p. 111.
  49. ^ Casement 1997, p. 456.
  50. ^ Casement 1997.
  51. ^ Hardenburg 1912, p. 33.
  52. ^ Slavery in Peru 1913, p. 249,290-291.
  53. ^ Hardenburg 1912, p. 265.
  54. ^ Almanaque 2001, p. 72.
  55. ^ Goodman 2009, p. 259.
  56. ^ Goodman 2009, p. 260.
  57. ^ Goodman 2009, p. 265.
  58. ^ Víctor San Román, Jesús (January 1, 1994). Perfiles históricos de la amazonía peruana. Peru / Colombia: Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana. pp. 191–192. ISBN 84-89295-80-8. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  59. ^ Goodman 2009, pp. 259–260.
  60. ^ Goodman 2009, pp. 260–261.
  61. ^ Zárate Botía, Carlos (2019). Amazonia 1900-1940: el conflicto la guerra y la invencion de la frontera (PDF). Universidad Nacional de Colombia. p. 34.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

Media related to Julio César Arana at Wikimedia Commons

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