The History of La Torre Community

Written by Raimundo Suico Mozombite from the knowledge of Jose Armas Cachique and other pioneers of the community (26 July 2004) Translated by Mark Theobald: Resident Naturalist at Explorers Inn (June-November 2004)

The Ese Eja at La Torre

In the 1920s when the rubber boom was at its peak many people came to the area from all over Peru to work in the rubber industry. They went to different parts of the region of Madre de Dios in search of the valuable rubber. Some went to the Tahuamanu area and others came to Tambopata, without knowing what was waiting for them. They surprised the native Ese Eja tribe who were living in the high Tambopata and who would not allow anybody to pass since they saw themselves as the protectors of the rainforest. The colonists attempted to get past the Ese Eja many times, sometimes with loss of life. Dominican missionaries came to the area to try to convert the savage Ese Eja to Christianity. This was a difficult task since a priest had to be prepared and a guide found that that spoke the Ese Eja language. At first the Ese Eja were resistant but the missionaries kept persisting. They gave the Ese Eja presents of mirrors, clothes, pots, axes and machetes and little by little the tribe accepted the missionaries. One the missionaries were in place the colonists could get further up the Tambopata river in safety to look for rubber. They arranged to cut through to the Tavara river and they went in convoys since there were many rapids and waterfalls en route. They paddled large canoes and the journey took 10-12 days to arrive at Candamo; a bridge on the Tavara river in the Puno region. There they would negotiate getting the rubber taken in boats in return for provisions for the locals. This journey was the only means of communication between Madre de Dios and the rest of the country. The colonists gave names to all of the places and streams that they passed and when they came to the first tributary of the Tambopata, they gave it the name La Torre in honour of a natural tower of rock that was in the middle of the Tambopata by the mouth of the tributary. This tower was about 6-8 m high and had a diameter of about 10 m. The travellers used to say that on the nights of a full moon and every 24th June (the Fiesta of San Juan) one could hear beautiful music coming from the rock of the sirens that lived below the water. They also said that the Ese Eja were living opposite the La Torre river they were the first inhabitants of the site. A missionary that had converted the tribe to Christianity was living with them for some years. They natives had got used to the missionarys presence and so the missionary started taking advantage of them, which upset the tribe. They couldnt put up with any more and so the whole tribe had a meeting on the tower of rock. The Curaca or chief talked to the whole tribe in their own language and accused the missionary of disobeying the rule that said that only the Curaca could be with all of the women of the tribe. He sentenced the missionary to death with suffering and pain. He ordered the men to strip the missionary and tie his hands behind his back. Then he took a knife and cut off his genitals. While the missionary was still in pain and bleeding, the Curaca ordered his men to take the genitals to the riverbank and hang them from a bush. Afterwards he took his bow and put an arrow through missionarys penis before the gaze of all. The Curaca then ordered that they take his body, still alive and bleeding, to the village and that they make a bonfire with dry branches. When there were enough embers they roasted the body (alive) and devoured him. This served as an example to the rest of the tribe, should they want to disobey the rules. Some time later the colonists arranged to take the Curaca prisoner. He was called Shajao and they took him to Candamo and sent him to prison in Puno where he died of he cold.

The Pioneers of La Torre Community

The travellers continued to go up and down the river for 30 years until the arrival of Seaplanes in Madre de Dios. In the year 1930 there was an epidemic of measles in the Ese Eja tribe and only a few could be saved; the rest died. Those that survived abandoned the village and went to live by the Stream of the 8 chickens in the high Tambopata further upstream than the river Malinosky. In 1950 the rubber-boom ended. 10 years later there was a flood that left the agricultural settlers in ruins. The Ese Eja also suffered in the same way and they came to live at Infierno in a safer place, higher up where the water has not reached to this day. After

the flood the tower of rock had suffered damage and started to collapse. Over the years the tower continued to disappear until by 1980 you could see hardly any of it; today it has disappeared completely. In 1973 the first pioneer of the present community, Jose Armas Cachique arrived. He chose a nice place to live situated at the confluence of the La Torre river where Explorers Inn is today. In 1976, 2 owners of Peruvian Safaris came to look for a place to build a lodge. They liked the place that was occupied by Jose Armas and they offered to buy the site. Jose Armas accepted and moved to live further up the river, where the control post is today. He only stayed there for 2 years since it was not a secure location and subsequently moved to live on the other side of the river, opposite Explorers Inn, where he lives with his family today. In 1977 the 2nd inhabitant of the community, Benjamin Huinga, and his family arrived. Then came the 3rd inhabitant, Jose Marichi and the 4th, Raimundo Suico Mozombite and his family who arrived in 1981. These were the 4 pioneers of the community.

The Community Grows

In 1985 many people arrived en masse looking for land that they could work. There was an economic crisis in Peru and people couldnt afford to live with their families in the city. In 1988 a meeting was held in the house of the Huinga family in order to form La Torre Community. 40 people attended and they discussed what name should be given to the community. After a lengthy debate they decided on the name La Torre Community and they then elected the first executive committee with Raul Vasquez Burga as president, Juan Balarezo Irarica as governor. The community was quite large, stretching from the stream that comes from Tres Chimbadas lake to the Gallo Cunca stream where the Libertador lodge is today. After some years they decided to divide the community since it was impossible to hold assemblies because of the distance. On 16 June 1990 the community divided at the Otorongo stream; everything above was called the Sachavayoc community and everything below was La Torre Community. At this time there were 25 children of school age and the regional education board was contacted to set up a school. There wasnt any land available but Raimundo Suico offered to donate some land where a school could be built. Meanwhile, as a first step, Raimundo offered his house to be used as a school. This was the situation for 2 years and in 1991 the school was built. With thanks to Raimundo Suico and the support of funds from the Compensation and Social Development Agency in the year, the medical post was built. Also they created the football pitch where every year the inter-community championship is held between neighbouring communities. In 1994 INRENA constructed a building just above the La Torre river as a shelter for those people passing. This allowed them to install 2 Park Rangers that controlled everyone that passed. This was the beginning of the dissatisfaction with INRENA. The community was told that the Park Rangers were there to help the community but they confiscated fishing nets, shotguns and meat that the inhabitants were taking to town so that their children could eat. The meat that they confiscated, they ate in their hut and they didnt allow entry into the Reserve for fishing and nothing could be taken from the forest, not even the Crisneja leaves for building houses. The inhabitants also couldnt take logs from the forest and they were limited in what they could do for a long time. Following meetings between the 4 communities in the area a front to defend the interests of the high Tambopata was formed. This changed things and today the inhabitants of the community are not as limited. In 1996 the project of Entitlement of Lands gave deeds to all of the people who were occupying land in the community. In this year INRENA constructed the control post where, until this day, they have controlled the tourists of the lodges in the Reserve, tradesmen, brazil nut harvesters and miners. Also INRENA created the Bahuaja Sonene Reserved Zone and the Tambopata National Reserve. All of the inhabitants of the area are farmers, who receive no technical support from the authorities. In 1997 the community proposed to practice agro-ecology with favourable results. These days the region of Madre de Dios is called the Biodiversity Capital of Peru because of the large numbers of insects, spiders, frogs and other fauna and flora. Now the farmers must sow leguminous plants to put nitrogen back into the soil. Today in 2004 the community wants to change its practices. They want to have concessions in order to work in ecotourism and be able to conserve the biodiversity for the future of our children.