Victor Macedo

Victor Macedo
Photograph of Victor Macedo c. 1915
Born	Victor Macedo
Nationality	Peruvian
Occupation	General manager for the Peruvian Amazon Company

Victor Macedo was an administrator employed by Julio César Arana and his rubber firm between 1903-1910, during the Putumayo genocide. He was the general manager of the Peruvian Amazon Company's agency at La Chorrera on the Igaraparaná River between 1907-1911. In June of 1911 there were 215 arrest warrants issued against employees of La Chorrera for their role in perpetrating the Putumayo genocide. Macedo's arrest warrant was issued in July of that year and he was arrested in August, but a prefect of Lima released him from incarceration. Macedo was later reported in 1914 to be in Bolivia near the border with Brazil, along with several ex-managers of La Chorrera's agency.

Role in the Putumayo genocide

Macedo was employed by Julio César Arana and his rubber firm as an administrator at La Chorrera during the Putumayo genocide. The rubber firms which controlled La Chorrera were dependent on an enslaved workforce to extract raw rubber which would then be sent to the port at La Chorrera. Years before the Peruvian Amazon Company came into existence, one way rubber patrons like Macedo expanded their work force was trading metal tools like an axe or machete, for a year of work, or a ten year old child. Another method frequently employed at La Chorrera's agency were slave raids, also referred to as correrías, where many natives were either captured or killed. It was also said that Macedo was the man at La Chorrera who implemented the weight quota of rubber that was imposed against the native work force. Some of the indigenous groups exploited at La Chorrera during Macedo's management of the agency include Huitotos, Andoques, Ocaina, Yurias, and Boras.

Macedo was implicated in a massacre of Ocaina natives at La Chorrera in 1903, and this incident became the subject of a criminal complaint filed by journalist Benjamin Saldaña Rocca, which eventually led to more than 215 arrest warrants issued against employees of La Chorrera's agency in the Putumayo River basin. The arrest warrant for Macedo was issued in July of 1911 by judge Carlos A. Valcarcel for his role in the atrocities that occurred in the Putumayo between 1903-1911 under his management.

Rómulo Paredes, another judge who investigated the Putumayo genocide in 1911, believed that the first massacres in the region began under the Larrañaga's leadership, and they continued under the administration of Macedo. In 1915, Valcarcel published a book titled El Proceso del Putumayo y sus secretos which covers their work investigating the Putumayo genocide, primarily at La Chorrera's agency and contains a portion of judge Paredes's report. Chapter nine of El proceso examines the culpability of Macedo, Arana, Pablo Zumaeta, and Juan B. Vega for the conditions in the region, the evidence collected by the 1911 commission that incriminates the senior managers with the atrocities, as well as Paredes's explanation for why they were not prosecuted. Judge Paredes became convinced that not only had crime in the Putumayo been committed with Macedo's knowledge and approval, but Macedo had also personally perpetrated crime and abuse against the natives.

Roger Casement was sent by the British Foreign Office to investigate the role that Barbadian men employed at La Chorrera had in the atrocities occurring in the Putumayo, as well as reports of abuse against Barbadians. Macedo organized multiple armed excursions against Colombians and natives during his management of the agency. Barbadian men were on several of these raids and they later gave depositions to Casement, reporting crimes which they had witnessed, as well as perpetrated against the natives. Casement interviewed a total of thirty Barbadians, many whom had worked around La Chorrera's agency for years and two of them told Casement that Macedo was aware of the crimes occurring in the region. Casement wrote that "Macedo was one of Arana's longest serving Chiefs of Section and had an established history of brutality."

Macedo and the managers under him were paid by the Peruvian Amazon Company on a commission based on how much rubber was collected in their respective sections. Casement believed that Macedo received around £2,000-£3,500 annually, and possibly even more than that from the Peruvian Amazon Company. According to the "pay list" at La Chorrera in 1910, Macedo's salary was £30 a month along with a commission of %6 on the profit made from his agency. Hardenburg emphasized that the company paying its employees by a commission incentivized them to collect and export as much rubber as possible in a short period of time, and this could either be done by paying the natives, or terrorizing them into submission. He declared that since Arana's company did not believe in paying the natives for their labor, the "rule of terror" has been applied throughout the company's estate.

Judge Paredes made a similar conclusion as Hardenburg regarding commissions paid out to the managers. He believed these contracts incentivized the managers to exploit and extort the natives into collecting as much rubber as possible in a short period of time. Indigenous men, women, children and elderly people were compelled to work for Arana's firm and they were subjected to cruel punishment or death when they failed to meet an the obligations imposed upon them. The judge wrote "[h]unger has been perhaps the most terrible scourge which has fallen on the Putumayo" and he emphasized that the station chiefs did not allow the natives enough time to cultivate food to sustain themselves.

During Macedo's management in 1906, there were around forty stations between the Igara-Paraná River and Caqueta River that delivered rubber to La Chorrera . The natives under La Chorrera's agency suffered systematic starvation during Macedo's administration. Several of Chorrera's stations suffered from famine due to the conditions imposed by the managers, notably at the stations of Atenas, Matanzas, Abisinia, and Ultimo Retiro. The managers Elias Martinengui and Armando Normand both gave their natives little to no time to cultivate food. While at Entre Rios in 1910, Casement wrote in his journal that "Macedo is alleged to have said: 'The Indians are not here to plant chacaras. They are here to get rubber.'" The word chacara refers to the gardens developed by the natives in the region. Saldana, Casement, Hardenburg and Paredes had also collected information on several cases at Chorrera's agency where starvation was intentionally used as a means for capital punishment. The use of cepos, a device similar to a pillory, was reported at La Chorrera, Matanzas, Entre Rios, Atenas, Ultimo Retiro, Abisinia, Occidente, Santa Catalina and other stations that were under Macedo's administration.

Indigenous Witoto workers at one of La Chorrera's rubber stations, photograph circa 1906.

At the end of a list titled "Names of the worst criminals on the Putumayo when I was there," Casement annotated: "All the above were chiefs of section ie. principal agents in full authority over a certain district acting under the general supervision of Victor Macedo -- the principal agent at La Chorrera."

J.C. Arana y Hermanos

While the date that Victor Macedo arrived in the Putumayo region is unknown, Macedo was working with the Larrañaga family and Julio César Arana as early as 1903 at an important settlement located below a waterfall named "Colonia Indiana", which would later be known as La Chorrera. In 1903 Julio Cesar Arana hired a French explorer named Eugène Robuchon to map out his estate in the Putumayo. The map of this territory is shown in Robuchon's book "En el Putumayo, y Sus Afluentes" and it is written on the document that it was drawn up for Macedo, manager of the J.C. Arana y Hermanos firm at La Chorrera. Benjamin Larranaga died at La Chorrera on December 22, 1903 and shortly afterward Arana acquired Rafael Larranaga's share of the estate. Juan B. Vega and Arana continued their partnership and established "Arana, Vega y Compania" which employed Macedo as a manager at La Chorrera.

Map of the J.C Arana y Hermanos estate between the Igara-Paraná and Caqueta Rivers

Near the end of 1904, the first group of Barbadian men hired by Arana's firm arrived in the Putumayo at La Chorrera. This group was dispatched from La Chorrera on November 17 1904 to establish the station of Matanzas which would be located near the Caqueta River, in a territory inhabited by Andoque natives. There were twenty-five Barbadian men and ten other men of different nationalities, including their Colombian manager Ramon Sanchez and Armando Normand, who was hired as an agent for the firm as well as a translator.

Two of those Barbadians were physically abused by Normand and Sanchez. El Proceso includes a letter written by Macedo to a manager regarding two Barbadians who attempted to run away after they were tied up and mistreated. Macedo wanted this manager to make it clear to the Barbadians that Ramon Sanchez was responsible for their abuse, and he emphasized that it would be detrimental if these Barbadians proceeded against Chorrera's agency. While Sanchez was dismissed due to reports regarding the mistreatment of Barbadians, the agency of La Chorrera continued to employ Normand, and he eventually became the chief manager of Matanzas.

Carrying materials for construction at La Chorrera, photograph circa 1906

Robuchon disappeared in the Putumayo in 1906 (near Ultimo Retiro) in territory managed by La Chorrera's agency and it was rumored that Arana had him intentionally disappeared because he had taken incriminating photographs of abuse that was occurring in the region. All of his photographs were taken around La Chorrera's territory, and several of the pictures would later be used as evidence of slavery and physical torment under Arana's firm. Macedo is said to have conducted a census with the aid of an agent named Manuel Torrico and the estimation for 50,000 natives living in the Putumayo River basin, as recorded in Robuchon's book, may have come from this census.

Flogging of a Putumayo native, carried out by the employees of Julio César Arana

In 1906, Macedo ordered Normand to organize a correria against a group of Colombians that were attempting to establish a rubber station near the Lower Caqueta. This attack resulted in the capture to Aquileo Torres and around ten other Colombians that worked for the Urbano Gutiérrez rubber firm. Some of the natives that were captured were clubbed to death. Eight of the Colombians were sent to La Chorrera, which was under the management of Macedo at the time. These Colombians were later taken on a company steamship and left with a canoe near the Brazilian border. One of those Colombians, named Roso España, made a testimony to the authorities in Manaus regarding this incident, and stated that after twenty five natives were killed by Normand's group, they proceeded to murder the woman and children in the area. Torres and two of the senior employees that worked for Urbano Gutierrez were kept at Abisinia as prisoners and suffered maltreatment. Torres eventually consented to work for the company.

Another common form of punishment is that of mutilations, such as cutting off arms, legs, noses, ears, penises, hands, feet, and even heads. Castrations are also a popular punishment for such crimes as trying to escape, for being lazy, or for being stupid, while frequently they employ these forms of mutilation merely to relieve the monotony of continual floggings and murders and to provide a sort of recreation. The victims generally die within a few days, or if they do not die they are murdered, for it is said that in 1906 Macedo issued an order to his subordinates advising them to kill all mutilated Indians at once for the following reasons: first, because they consumed food although they could not work; and second, because it looked bad to have these mutilated wretches running about.

— Walter Ernest Hardenburg, The Putumayo, the Devils Paradise

Macedo was first publicly implicated in the Putumayo genocide by Benjamin Saldaña Rocca on August 9 1907 through a criminal petition he filed against eighteen members of the J.C. Arana y Hermanos firm. Macedo was the first name on the list compiled by Saldaña. Saldaña later decided to establish his own newspaper publications which he would use to publicly campaign against Arana's firm. On August 22, the first issue of La Sancion included content from Saldaña's original petition and a letter from an ex-employee of La Chorrera's agency named Julio Muriedas. This letter detailed his employment at Matanzas under Normand, and some of the methods of abuse he employed against the natives in his district, as well as the killing of these natives for not meeting a weight quota of rubber. Saldaña claimed that Macedo and his counterpart Loayza were responsible for the crimes of "swindling, robbery, incendiarism, poisoning and assassination" that was aggravated by "tortures by fire, water, the lash and mutilation" occurring under their management. The first issue also provided an account of the 1903 Ocaina massacre which claimed that Macedo as well as Loayza had orchestrated the killings.

A group of Huitoto natives, forced to work La Chorrera, photograph circa 1906.

Juan Castanos, a Saldaña deponent and manager of Porvenir, wanted passage to Iquitos so he could leave the Putumayo. However, Macedo opposed this because Castanos did not have enough money to pay for the passage on the Liberal. Castanos later obtained the funding to do so, but Zubiaur, captain of the Liberal, refused to have him on the ship. Afterwards, his wife was dragged away and Macedo allowed her to be taken as a concubine by Bartolomé Zumaeta.

Peruvian Amazon Company

On September 6, 1907 the Peruvian Amazon Company was founded by Arana along with several English investors, and this new organization acquired the assets of the Arana Hermanos firm. At the time, Macedo was the general manager of La Chorrera's agency and he retained this position in the new company. The document published by Carlos Rey de Castro mentioned that the agency consisted of forty rubber stations.

On November 19, 1907 the statement of Reynaldo Torres appeared in an article ran by Saldaña, and he declared that the massacre of Ocainas in 1903 was directed by Macedo, Rafael Larranaga, as well as Jacob Barchillon and this incident was denounced by Aristides Rodriguez. Macedo was arrested along with several other perpetrators of the massacre, but he managed to escape and travel through the Napo River and reach La Chorrera again. Afterwards, the Arana company "hushed things up" by paying out half a million Peruvian soles, equal to £50,000 at the time, in bribes. Torres clarified that the massacre was perpetrated against the Gacudo and Pinaje nations of the Ocaina people. Torres wanted to leave the service of the company but was not permitted. When the prefect Carlos Zapata inquired about this, Macedo stated that Torres was free to leave as long as he paid his debts, and at the time he could not afford to do so.

La Felpa illustration depicting Victor Macedo and Juan B. Vega

Near the end of 1907, the Peruvian Amazon Company published an essay written by Victor Macedo which established a narrative for the massacre of Ocaina natives in 1903. He claimed that there were only three Peruvian employees present, and throughout the entire essay he neglected to mention the Peruvian garrison at La Chorrera. Macedo stated that the Colombians perpetrated this massacre and that since they were spewing anti-Peruvian sentiments, he did not leave his room, the same with Miguel S. Loayza. This essay emphasized that Macedo and Loayza were junior employees.

Saldaña was forced to flee Iquitos due to pressure from Arana, but an American engineer named Walter Ernest Hardenburg managed to obtain Saldaña's documents, and continue the work of the journalist. Along with the testimonies Saldaña collected, Hardenburg managed to collect more than twenty depositions that reported crimes against indigenous peoples, perpetrated by Arana's firm. By the time of Hardenburg's journey through the Putumayo in 1908, Macedo was the general manager of La Chorrera and the senior most employee of the agency.

Peruvian Amazon Company employees at La Chorrera. Macedo is seated third from the right.

Daniel Collantes gave a deposition to Hardenburg. He was a fireman employed on a river launch owned by Arana in 1902 before Macedo gave him orders to transfer to a rubber station. Collantes stated that he refused to do so because he was aware that crimes were perpetrated in the forest, and he was imprisoned at La Chorrera for ten days for his refusal. When Collantes complained to Macedo, Macedo gave an order for Collantes to be whipped one hundred times, and for his mouth to be covered so he would not cry. In his deposition Collantes declared that the massacre of Ocaina natives occurred 150 meters away from the headquarters at La Chorrera, and that there were forty natives, rather than thirty. These natives arrived as prisoners and were detained together in chains in a cell. Collantes stated that at 4 A.M the next morning, Macedo ordered eighteen employees from the section of La Sabana to flog the imprisoned natives to death. Hours later, Macedo gave the employees another order, to drag the natives out of the cell, shoot them, and then cremate their remains. According to Collantes the collection of firewood and kerosine began at 9 A.M, and Macedo gave the order for the fire to begin at 12 A.M.

Collantes wrote that shortly after the massacre he told Macedo that he wished to leave the company and journey to Iquitos, "[t]he reply this miserable criminal gave me was to threaten me with more chains and imprisonment, telling me that he was the only one who gave orders in this region and that all who lived here were subject to his commands." Collantes also reported information on correria led by Jose Innocente Fonseca on Macedo's orders. Macedo ordered Fonseca to organize a commission of twenty men to travel towards the Caqueta and kill any Colombians that they found there. The members of this commission were told to bring back the fingers, ears, and severed heads of their victims. These body parts were shown to Macedo and Miguel S. Loayza, the general manager of El Encanto's agency. Celestino Lopez wrote to Hardenburg and declared he "also saw Dancurt, the official executioner of La Chorrera, flog the poor Indians almost daily for the most trivial faults: all with the knowledge and approbation of Victor Macedo, manager of La Chorrera and Justice of the Peace of the Putumayo."

The Barbadian John Brown stated that during his time at La Chorrera, up until June of 1908, there were multiple instances of flagellation carried out by Dancurt against the natives. Brown stated that he was sent away from La Chorrera multiple times to find natives and bring them back to the station so they would be flogged. According to Brown, Macedo was present during some of these instances and the flagellation was carried out by his orders. When Thomas Whiffen arrived at La Chorrera, the punishment of natives in public ceased "and everything was done to hide from Capt. Whiffen the true facts of the case." The Barbadian James Chase believed that Macedo sent an agent towards each of the sections that Whiffen would be travelling through to give a "warning to all the sections that things must be put straight" so that Whiffen could not see anything incriminating the company. Frederick Bishop, another Barbadian, reported that Whiffen's movements were monitored while he was in the Putumayo and any evidence of atrocities was "cleared up" before he would arrive at his next destination. Whiffen was told that Macedo would be dismissed, and that reforms would be made.

In September 1909, Hardenburg began publishing a series of articles with a small newspaper named Truth. The first of these articles was titled "The Devil's Paradise: A British-Owned Congo" which made a comparison between conditions in the Putumayo River basin and atrocities in the Congo Free State. Some of Hardenburg's information that went into the article directly implicated station managers under Macedo with murder and torture. In response to the Truth articles, the Peruvian Amazon Company decided to send a commercial commission to investigate the conditions in the region, and the British Foreign Office took the opportunity to attach Consul-general Roger Casement to inspect the treatment of Barbadian men in the region. Prior to 1910, Macedo became justice of the peace in the Putumayo, which was a government position.

Putumayo natives resting at La Chorrera after delivering rubber. The rubber can be seen on the right. Photograph circa 1912.

There was a correria led by Augusto Jiménez Seminario from Ultimo Retiro across the Caqueta into Colombian territory in March of 1910, and this raid captured three Colombians and twenty one natives. The raid was carried out under Macedo's direct orders. There was a notice for a monetary gratification signed by Macedo, which was administered to members of the raid who Jimenez thought performed satisfactorily, the document was dated February 25, 1910.

Consular commission of 1910

Macedo and Juan A. Tízon received Casement and the company commissioners at La Chorrera on September 22 of 1910. Casement thought that if Macedo attended the interviews with the Barbadians, then he would attempt to make a formal "enquiry" for the courts in Iquitos to investigate them: with the intent that "[t]hey would be made the scapegoats, both to justify Macedo and clear the Peruvian authorities too, and also to destroy any real evidence of the wholesale crimes that have been allowed for years in this unhappy region." Casement decided to have Tizon present for the interviews, and while Macedo stood and listened at the door for a time, he was not invited so he walked off. Casement also thought that Macedo would attempt to bribe the Barbadians to lie and deceive him. A Barbadian named Frederick Bishop was able to convince many of the other Barbadians to testify to Casement before Macedo and Normand had the opportunity to coerce them into silence. Bishop reported in his deposition that in January of 1909 Macedo had him "put in guns" which was a form of punishment that consists of detaining a person in an uncomfortable position, from which they are secured in place by several guns that form a triangle. The victim is then whipped. The order was carried out by the commander of La Chorrera's garrison, a captain of the Peruvian military.

Bishop also stated "Macedo knew what happened often in the sections, as he visited them and saw prisoners and flogging. Donald Francis told Bishop that Macedo had threatened to have him shot if he reported anything against Macedo. Macedo also promised to increase Francis's pay by £8 a month. Besides the bribery attempt against Francis, Edward Crichlow as well as James Lane reported that Macedo offered them a bribe. Casement asked Stanley Sealy why he did not report any of the crimes to Macedo, and Sealy said that there was no point in doing so because "he had believed señor Macedo knew all about the wrong things done". Joshua Dyall provided the same reasoning as Sealy when Casement asked him if he reported any killings to Macedo. Dyall had been physically abused by Alfredo Montt, "badly flogged", beaten with a gun, and when he complained about this treatment to Macedo, Macedo ordered him to go to Ultimo Retiro and he was threatened with getting tied up and flogged again. Adolphus Gibbs told Casement that Augusto Jiménez and Macedo had both struck him because he wanted to leave the company. Macedo gave an indigenous concubine to the Barbadian Evelyn Batson around November of 1908. A Barbadian named Norman Walcott told Casement that in November of 1909 he witnessed Victor Macedo flogging a young native man, around eighteen years old. Walcott did not report any other cases of abuse to Roger Casement.

The "Mark of Arana", scars from flagellation on the back of an indigenous boy, photograph circa 1910

At La Chorrera, Casement saw Macedo's son playing with a young girl whose father had been "killed by his own muchachos". Casement believed that this case was representative of the relationship dynamic between the muchachos de confianza and their exploiters. While discussing the accounts of the Barbadian men with Casement, Macedo offered to remove 25% of the debts they owed. The total amount was over £800, and Casement estimated that would average around £42-43 per Barbadian. Casement interpreted the bonification as a bribe meant to silence him. Casement also noted that there were at least two agents that were sent by Macedo to warn the chiefs of sections about Casement's presence during his investigation. According to Tizon, the station of Matanzas had been operating as a "dead loss for some time" by 1910. The commissions for Normand and Macedo, as well as the expenditure for the station's [Matanzas] necessities, including the salary for employees, absorbed all of the station's potential profits.

While witnessing the arrival of the Sur fabrico in 1910, Casement had asked one young native, named Omarino if he would like journey to London with Casement. Omarino agreed, and his captain requested a "shirt and a pair of trousers..." and this transaction for Omarino's freedom was sanctioned by Macedo. Near the end of Casement's investigation there was an indigenous woman given to Abelardo Aguero as a gift by Macedo

Macedo gifted Casement a chiviclis prior to his departure from La Chorrera in November. After Casement's investigation in 1910, Pablo Zumaeta's brother-in-law, Amadeo Burga, succeeded Macedo as the justice of peace. Macedo was also superseded by Tizon as the chief agent at La Chorrera. While Casement was returning to Iquitos via the Liberal, the ship stopped at a settlement named Recreio, at the mouth of the Yaguas River. Casement witnessed four natives paddling in a canoe with a man and a woman, and the captain of the Liberal stated that the natives had been given away as a gift from Macedo.

Photograph of the concubines of the Peruvian Amazon Company at La Chorrera, 1912

Judicial commission of 1911

Macedo travelled away from the Putumayo on the Liberal with Andrés O'Donnell and the Commercial Commission in February of 1911, prior to the arrival of the Rómulo Paredes at La Chorrera along with his judicial commission. Macedo had around 80,000 soles, or around £8,000 after his dismissal from the Peruvian Amazon Company, £2,000 of which came from a 'special gratification' paid to him by Pablo Zumaeta. Macedo and another man named Zegarra were interrogated upon their arrival in Iquitos by the sub-prefect, but that individual claimed there wasn't any evidence against Macedo and Zegarra.

In his statement at Iquitos, Macedo declared that he was not aware that the massacre occurred until the next day. He claimed that he "knew from references Benjamin Larrañaga and Loayza were present" at the massacre; however, he stated they could not prevent the massacre because Larrañaga was drunk at the time and Macedo and Loayza were a junior employees. He also stated that there were twenty five victims of this massacre. In his deposition, Macedo gave testimony to several killings made by Colombians in the region prior to 1907, most notably Crisostomo Hernandez and he also declared there was an uprising in 1905 at Ultimo Retiro instigated by Gregorio Calderón. Macedo also accused Colombians of instigating the 1909 mutiny that led to the death of Buccelli and three other agents. Miguel Flores also participated in the 1903 massacre. Flores had perpetrated so many killings against the natives at La Chorrera that Macedo reprimanded him for this, and told him to only kill the natives when they stopped delivering the rubber.

In his statement, Isaac Escurra declared that he saw eleven native adults, ten men and one woman who had a child, who were imprisoned in the cepo next to Macedo's room. Carlos Miranda had these natives whipped and after that they were kept in the cepo for three days without food. Over the course of those three days, Escurra mentioned to Macedo that these natives should have been receiving something to eat, but they weren't given anything. Macedo gave an order to have lime poured over the eleven natives after an employee complained that they were starting to smell bad, which was due to their wounds rotting. Afterwards, Escurra stated that Macedo ignored the fate of these imprisoned natives. In his deposition, Escurra also stated that he saw two heads of natives being consumed by dogs at La Chorrera, and according to Macedo the heads belonged to natives that had died from smallpox, Escurra did not believe that was the truth. While eating at a table in La Chorrea along with Macedo and several other station chiefs, Escurra denounced the crimes he had witnessed Elias Martinengui commit at Atenas to Macedo, but he was told "not to speak of those things in public, but to come to his office for a talk". Macedo told Escurra that he knew everyone at the table was a criminal and he did not need to be told so. Macedo declared that it would be impossible for work in the region to proceed if he hired decent people because the natives could only be dominated through rigor. Valcarcel noted that this statement may explain why there were so many criminals in the Putumayo. Escurra later went to a member of the Iquitos superior court who told him to keep quiet as well as that Arana was expected in Iquitos and Escurra could talk to him then. Another man employed by La Chorrea's agency, named Jose Plaza denounced Alfredo Montt's crimes to Macedo, and in response Macedo sent Plaza to La Sabana, the station managed by Aristides Rodriguez.

El Proceso del Putumayo y sus secretos inauditos contains eight different eyewitness accounts of the massacre, including one by Macedo. Deponent Emilio Mozambite declared that Macedo witnessed the massacre; however, he did not participate. He claimed that the massacre was directed by Rafael Larranaga, it was carried out as retribution for an uprising which occurred that year and resulted in the death of a Colombian rubber patron along with his employees. Santiago Portocarrero declared that both Macedo and Loayza had knowledge of the crimes perpetrated in their agencies, Portocarrero was confident about this because he had overheard these bosses having a conversation about the crime. Eusebio Pinedo also claimed Macedo and Loayza witnessed the massacre but did not participate. Deponent Gregorio Arimuya declared that Macedo and Loayza witnessed the massacre but did not participate. At the end of Arimuya's statement, he reported that there were Aymenes natives flogged by Peruvian soldiers, under the orders of a lieutenant Risco, at La Chorrera. Esetan Angulo's testimony corroborated Arimuya's statement regarding Peruvian soldiers flogging natives at La Chorrera. Fifteen natives suffered this punishment because they refused to collect rubber and in retaliation Rafael Larrañaga ordered them to be flogged. Angulo stated some of the Peruvian soldiers garrisoned at Chorrera helped to carry out the flagellation. This information regarding the Peruvian garrison at La Chorrera contradicts Macedo's claim from his 1907 statement where he said the Peruvians could not intervene during the massacre of Ocainas because there were only three Peruvians employees at La Chorrera . The Peruvian garrison at La Chorrera was first established in 1902.

The judge investigated the scene of the 1903 Ocaina massacre at La Chorrera, and collected enough evidence to confirm that the massacre had actually taken place. The massacre of Puineses and Renuicueses natives that occurred in 1903 at La Chorrera was also confirmed, and again there was a large amount of bones discovered, there was also evidence that a fire had occurred in that location. After interviewing Macedo and several other Peruvian Amazon Company employees in 1911, the judge determined "[a]lthough Macedo and Loayza witnessed these events, it has not been proven that they took part in it."

Evidence collected by the Paredes commission in 1911

Paredes wrote that "[a]ccording to the evidence taken in the enquiry it would seem that the fire massacre ('hecatombe') in La Chorrera gave rise to these chiefs. The execution of thirty Ocainas Indians, tortured and burned alive, was thus a sort of patent, a diploma for governing sanctions." Casement, based on the information he examined, believed that "[t]his crime was committed by Victor Macedo's direction, and on the strength of this act of fortitude he became eventually the chief of all sections as general manager at La Chorrera, deriving from his presidency of crime an income of well over £3,000 a year."

Paredes mentioned that a population which was estimated by Carlos Rey de Castro to be at 50,000 natives had fallen down to 8,000 in the Putumayo River basin between 1906-1911. The Peruvian Amazon Company prospectus issued in 1907 claimed that there were 40,000 "Indian 'labourers'" in the region at the time.

Paredes declared that he spared no effort in attempting to capture several of the "worst criminals", but that Macedo had assisted them in escaping from the region prior to the judge's arrival. After emphasizing that Macedo wrote a letter to the prefect of Loreto denying that the massacre in 1903 occurred, Paredes wrote that "it is perfectly defined that Macedo is a concealer of such crimes: that furthermore Macedo has taken advantage of and assisted the criminals to take advantage of the crime."

Following the Paredes investigation, there were three sets of arrest warrants issued against men who had worked in the Putumayo for Arana's rubber firm. The first set was issued against twenty two individuals that were implicated with the massacre of Ocaina natives in September of 1903, charging them with "the crime of flogging and flaying thirty Ocaina Indians and then burning them alive." The second set of warrants was issued on June 29 against 215 individuals employed under La Chorrera's agency.

Macedo's arrest warrant was issued by judge Valcárcel on July 29, 1911 along with a warrant for Pablo Zumaeta and several other Peruvian Amazon Company employees that Paredes did not proceed against. In august, the mayor of Lima and the prefect of Callao both sent telegraphs to the Paredes with a request to dismiss the arrest warrant against Macedo. One of these telegrams insinuated that Macedo had influential friends in Lima. Seymour Bell, a member of the 1910 commission, stated that members of the Peruvian Congress had also sent telegraphs protesting Macedo's arrest warrant.

Casement's source stated that Macedo was in Lima between October-September of 1911. Lucien Jerome, an English consul general at Lima, stated that Macedo had been living openly in the city. He noted that when the local authorities investigated his last known address, there was no sign of him; however, it was determined that he had recently left.

Judge Paredes later showed several telegrams to Casement that were sent from "highly placed individuals in Lima" which were requesting the dismissal of Macedo's warrant. Several of these individuals include Hildebrando Fuentes - deputy to congress, Ingoyen Canseco - deputy to congress, and Emilio Rodriguez Larrain - secretary to the President of Peru. Larrain had sent a telegraph to a member of the Iquitos courts requesting to know why there was a warrant issued against Macedo, and he also requested for that warrant to be dismissed. This led Valcárcel to believe that Larrain was responsible for Macedo's release. A former prefect of Lima named Pedro Garezon reported that Macedo had been captured, but Garezon released Macedo instead of sending him to Iquitos. Julio Ego-Aguirre, who succeeded Garezon as the prefect of Lima and also served as the lawyer for Julio César Arana reported "that he had not found Macedo in detention" when he was asked to send Macedo to Iquitos. Paredes issued the warrant on the basis of a Peruvian law which states "[w]hen there is a corpus delicti, simple indications of guilt are sufficient to order the arrest of the accused."

Eduardo and Francisco Lanatta were employed as lawyers in Iquitos for Macedo during the judicial proceedings against him. There were allegations that the Lanatta brothers had an unofficial business dealings with Paredes, but Paredes refuted this in El Proceso, noting that he would not have issued an arrest warrant for Macedo if there was an agreement between the Lanatta brothers and him. Valcárcel, who originally filed the arrest warrants against Macedo and Pablo Zumaeta, was dismissed from his office on October 31st, 1911 by the Superior Court of Iquitos.

Later life

Macedo was reported to have secured passage on a ship heading towards Barbados in November of 1911, and from there he travelled to Manaus. Macedo, Armando Normand and several other Peruvian Amazon Company employees were spotted in Manaus by a Barbadian informant that wrote to Casement. In December of 1911 Macedo was reported to have been in Manaus again "along with Arana"; however, the nature of this encounter was unknown to Casement's informant. Near the end of 1911, Macedo went to Iquitos to defend himself in court, and Casement remarked that "[t]he Superior Court will probably go down in a body to greet him & have him to dinner."

On October 17th of 1912, it was reported that Jimenez and Macedo were in Bolivia at Cobiga, together, and Aguero was nearby. In 1914, The Anti-Slavery reporter and aborigines' friend published an article titled "The Putumayo Criminals" which was based on details provided by one of their informants. This informant stated that Victor Macedo was frequently travelling around Manaus, the Japury River, and the Acre River, with financial assistance for his activities provided by Arana. Macedo was also travelling with E. Mozambite, presumably Emilio Mozambite, and Fidel Velarde, one of his station chiefs. Abelardo Aguero, Augusto Jiménez, and Carlos Miranda, three of Macedo's station chiefs at La Chorrera, were also in Bolivia, close to the border with Brazil, where they continued to exploit natives in order to extract rubber. Jimenez and Aguero were both arrested in April of 1914 on an estate belonging to the rubber baron Nicolás Suárez Callaú, but the Bolivian Consul that reported their arrest declared that Macedo had left the area prior to the arrival of authorities. After April of 1914 there were no further reports regarding the whereabouts of Macedo.

See also

• Peruvian Amazon Company
• Putumayo genocide
• Julio César Arana
• Miguel S. Loayza

References

Books

• Chirif, Alberto; Chaparro, Manuel (2009). Imaginario e imagenes de la epoca del caucho: Los sucesos del Putumayo. p. 230. ISBN 978-9972-608-27-8.
• Hardenburg, Walter (1912). The Putumayo, the Devil's Paradise; Travels in the Peruvian Amazon Region and an Account of the Atrocities Committed Upon the Indians Therein. London: Fischer Unwin. ISBN 1372293019.
• Valcárcel, Carlos (2004). El proceso del Putumayo y sus secretos inauditos. The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs.
• Slavery in Peru: Message from the President of the United States Transmitting Report of the Secretary of State, with Accompanying Papers, Concerning the Alleged Existence of Slavery in Peru. United States. Department of State. 1913. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
• Robuchon, Eugène; Rey de Castro, Carlos (1907). En el Putumayo y sus afluentes (in Spanish). Imprenta La industria. ISBN 9785880223091.
• Casement, Roger (1997). The Amazon Journal of Roger Casement. Anaconda Editions. ISBN 1901990052. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
• Parliamentary Papers: Select Committee on the Putumayo. House of Commons or House of Lords Papers. 1913.
• Casement, Roger (2003). Mitchell, Angus (ed.). Sir Roger Casement's Heart of Darkness: The 1911 Documents. Irish Manuscripts Commission. ISBN 9781874280989.
• Paternoster, Sidney (1913). The Lords of the Devil's Paradise. S. Paul & Company.
• Goodman, Jordan (2009). The Devil and Mr Casement: One Man's Struggle for Human Rights in South America's Heart of Darkness. London: Verso. ISBN 9781844673346.
• The Anti-slavery Reporter and Aborigines' Friend. L. Wild. 1914.
• Putumayo: la vorágine de las caucherías segunda parte. Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica. 2014.
• "The Anti-slavery reporter and aborigines' friend". The Anti-slavery Reporter and Aborigines' Friend. 1–3. 1909–1914.
• Hardenburg, Walter (1912). Transcript of 'The Devil's Paradise. / A catalogue of crime' by W. E. Hardenburg. National Library of Ireland.
• Thomson, Norman (1913). The Putumayo Red Book with an Introduction on the Real Scandal of the Putumayo Atrocities. N. Thomson & Company.