Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NICOLÁS SUÁREZ: RUBBER BARON
At the peak of his powers,
Nicolás Suárez
was the absolute ruler over more than six mil-
lion hectares of rainforest where rubber was collected by a massive workforce of Caripuña
Indians who were slaves in all but name. He also controlled the rapids that separated the
Bolivian river system from the Amazon proper (charging huge tolls for the transport of
cargo around them) and even raised a private army to fight the separatist rebellion of
Brazilian settlers in the northern territory of Acre in 1899. With the annexation of Acre by
Brazil, however, he lost many of his rubber holdings, and after the collapse of the rubber
boom a few years later his empire gradually disintegrated. He died in Cachuela Esperanza
in 1940, and though virtually forgotten elsewhere in Bolivia, in the Beni and Pando he
is still revered by some as a heroic pioneer who brought progress and civilization to the
wilderness. Ironically, decades later his great-nephew,
Roberto Suárez
, came to control a
similarly powerful empire based on the export of another Amazonian product for which the
industrialized world had developed an insatiable appetite - cocaine - amassing in the pro-
cess a personal fortune so vast that in the 1980s he reputedly offered to pay off Bolivia's
entire national debt.
The wooden church and around
Coming into town along the road from Guayaramerín you pass a small
wooden church
built
in 1909 that would look more at home in New England than here in the Amazon. Close by
stands the modest stone
tomb of Suárez
, with an inscription praising him as a “heroic patriot
and eminent industrial progressive”. Just beyond the church on your left is the well-preserved
cinema-theatre
, built in the 1930s to entertain Suárez and his army of foreign technicians.
The riverfront
On the riverfront a
bust of Suárez
looks out over a fierce set of rapids known as Hell's
Cauldron, the first in the series of riverine obstacles that effectively cuts Bolivia off from the
Amazon mainstream; close by to the right a broken
monument
commemorates the men who
died trying to negotiate these rapids, while along to the left stands a small
steam locomotive
that served the
railway
used to circumvent them. Suárez's mansion, known as
Villa Luta
-
the “House of Mourning” - occupies the highest point in town, a crumbling shell overgrown
with vegetation.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
By truck/car
Trucks and
autos
run between Guayaramerín and Cachuela Esperanza most of
the day, leaving when full - ask a motorbike taxi to take you to the
paradero
(truck stop) on
the edge of Guayaramerín.
By motorbike taxi
Most motorbike taxis in Guayeramerín will charge around Bs150 for a
full day-trip; try Victor Hugo on 03 8551030.
