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an jungles to clash at the remote reaches of the Purús and Juruá, but there were more
complex political economies that underpinned the movements of latex seekers into the
headwaters. These included the monopolization of caucho in the upper Amazon: the
houses of Arana, Suarez, Dias, and Fitzcarraldo had consolidated their empires and ex-
pelled smaller operators. There were also changes in labor regimes in response to stra-
tospheric latex prices and accelerating global demand. These forces were all pushing the
less powerful enterprises out of the terrains of the great masters of the regional rivers
and into the Purús watershed.
Geographically, the great western caucho empires extended in a swath from the
Colombia-Venezuela frontier to the llanos of Bolivia. The Casa Arana dominated in the
Guaviare, Putumayo, and lower Ucayali and the Fitzcarraldos (and a number of their
lesservassals)claimedthemid-andupperUcayaliandMadredeDioswatersheds,while
the Suárez brothers dominated Bení-Madeira. 5 These powerful “über barons” formed a
bulwark of latex monopolies that was actively expelling many smaller or less compliant
operatorsfromtheirdomains,leavingeastwardmovementintoBrazilastheonlyoption.
One of these fugitives was the former henchmen of the Fitzcarraldos, Carlos Scharff,
who took over the upper Purús after Delfim Fitzcarraldo was killed by Indians. Why
Scharff appeared on the scene is more complex than the clichéd narrative of rapacious
caucheiros slashing the latex trees into oblivion, although that was certainly one part of
the story.
Figures 10.1a and b. Two über-caucheiros of the Upper Amazon: Arana and Suárez.
. . .
The powerful economic incentives provided by the increasingly feverish rubber demand
madealmostanykindoflatexextractionagoingconcern,butthekeyproblemwaslabor
organization,aquestionofbroaderconcerninindustrialandagroindustrialenterprisesat
the time. Julio Arana, one of the most powerful “Caucho Kings,” was a person of mod-
ern sensibilities (he much admired Henry Ford) when it came to the organization of the
firm. He had begun to radically rethink caucho and wanted to modernize the extraction
in a number of ways, including labor control, by “rationalizing” production, changing
administration, and labor deployment. Traditionally, native men trekked into the forest
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