History of the Llanos and Selva

History

By Lorraine Caputo

After Francisco de Orellana blazed a trail to the Amazon River in 1542, many mid-16th century conquistadores like Diego de Orduz passed through the jungles and plains on their quests for El Dorado. This opened the way for the Catholic missionary orders—the Franciscans, Capuchins, Jesuits and Augustinians— to establish settlements throughout the region. At the time of the Spaniards’ arrival, the Llanos were inhabited by independent indigenous villages of the Arawak language group, such as the Guahibos and Sálivas. Their inhabitants were displaced by the Spaniards and forced to live in those Catholic missions. The same occurred to the Selva indigenous nations along the Napo, Caquetá, Putumayo and Amazon Rivers.

A great disaster for the indigenous of the jungle came with the rubber boom of the late 19th century. Large swaths of the rainforest were destroyed and slavery was legalized. The Huitoto population, once the Amazon’s largest nation, suffered an over 60% decrease. La Casa Arana, a major rubber company, is believed to have killed some 50,000 indigenous workers through horrid working conditions, whippings and killings.

Threats to the environment and indigenous peoples continued into the 20th century. With the advent of motorized transportation in the1930s, roads were built from highland cities like Pasto and Bogotá into the Selva and Llanos. The resulting migration pushed roads further and further into the jungle, not only for new settlers, but also for the extraction of valuable hardwoods and gold reserves. In the 1980s, deep reaches of the jungle became home to vast plantations of marijuana and coca, and to mega-cocaine labs. Tranquilandia, one of the largest with 14 labs, electricity, roads and airfield, processed 3500 kilograms (7700 pounds) of pure white powder every month. Problems continued for the region into the next decade, with the players of Colombia’s civil war moving into the relative haven of the Llanos’ and Selva’s jungles. A 42,000 square kilometer demilitarized zone was established by peace accords between Colombian President Andrés Pastrana and the FARC guerrillas in 1999. Farclandia, as it was nicknamed, covered much of Caquetá and Putumayo Departments, with San Vicente del Caguán as the capital. Pastrana rescinded the deal in 2002, due to the FARC’s continued kidnappings and other practices. With the new millennium and a new president, Álvaro Uribe, FARC strongholds in the Llanos and Selva have been systematically attacked.