Chapter 41 Turtle with a wooden leg - 3

Diego Haas overheard the names of Andrade and his uncle Gómez Dolivera being mentioned in a conversation between Reber and Jorge Socrates.Diego had wanted to witness what he called (metaphorically speaking) the "execution" of the two men.In fact, the development of the situation is such that Diego knows almost nothing about it, and, apart from Sokrates, it is David Setiniaz who has become the person who knows the whole process best. First, David saw some photos on Reber's desk on his fourth day in Rio de Janeiro.Since Leiber left the photos on the case, it was self-explanatory, but he added: "Please look at these photos, David."

There are at least sixty photos, and the size is 40CMx30CM.All the photos were taken of Indians, men, women and children, who were either put to death or severely tortured. This kind of inhuman barbarity and heinous cruelty made the New Yorker Seteniaz turn pale. "this is too scary." "Anything else. I know, David, it's not going to be pleasant, but I want you to see it anyway." In contrast, some of the later photos are somewhat less overwhelming.There are a few photos of various piles of dead bodies, and each pile contains dozens of corpses, men, women and children who died together.Of course, these are not the worst.The other photos were also of dead bodies, but surrounded by many people, some of them looked very happy, pouring gasoline from the tank...

…and then torch throwing while posing for a photo. "There's a third set of photos," Reber said. "It's on the shelf on the right in the iron cabinet. David, please take a look too, I won't ask you to see these pictures for no reason..." The Indians in the third group of photos were all tortured beyond recognition by leprosy, and they looked terrible. "David! Does that remind you of anything?" "Mauthausen." "Yes, except for the leprosy. David, that's what people have called the Indian Conservation Service since 1906. I'm not saying that all the men and women who have worked or are working for the SPI are hard-hearted wolves and sadists, just Like the ones who did the deed you just saw in the photo. I'm just saying that the number of heartless wolves and sadists in SPI is extraordinary, far more than any human group. percentage, no matter what color they are, what language they speak, what religion they believe or don't believe in, what political system they follow or obey. I use the words 'hard-hearted wolf' and 'sadist', really Because I can't find any other better words to express my anger, although I can speak many languages..."

There was that dazed look in his eyes. "I'm not very talkative, David. Except when it comes to specific things, like when I have to get someone to buy my stuff or sell me something. Seriously, I'm not very talkative..." He stopped. "Forgive me, I didn't want to hurt your feelings. You're an unnaturally normal person. Even Jethro eventually admitted it. I haven't regretted a minute of giving you a job. Your job Well done, and last year you took over almost all of my company's financial management, which made me appreciate you even more. But I have other uses for you, David. I'm going to use you...with yours Normal as a sounding board to gauge my dreams, or my follies.

"I don't make sense. One of the two men involved in this case was named Andrade. He actually tried to blackmail us, very badly. I would have liked to deal with him in the normal way as I have done with other people. But he did the only thing that really pissed me off. He threatened Jorge Sokrates to ask one of his uncles to intervene in the matter. His uncle was the second man, Gómez Dolivi. La Gomez is the head of the Indian Conservation Service. I have just received the intelligence I ordered about him." "It was provided by Jethro." "That's the same thing. Some of this information is in front of you, David. These cremators are treasure hunters. They hunt gold and diamonds in the jungle. I had some old problems with them some years ago, but I didn't try to retaliate back then because they were poor people. I wasn't personally involved this time. But I was angry, very angry, David..."

These words are in sharp contrast to the soft voice and kind smile of the speaker... "We have identified the perpetrators of the photographs. We already know their names, their ages, their hometown, and above all, who equipped them and gave them money from Belem to the Tapajós River. We They even have the receipts. These receipts were found by employees of a company in Rio de Janeiro. One of the main shareholders of the company is João Gómez Dolivera, the head of the Indian Conservation Service. Eight months ago, he put the $875,000 was transferred to a bank account in Nassau, and we have his account number. Likewise, we have all the details on Mr. Gómez Dolivera. He is far less innocent than you , David. Not so far."

"What are you going to do with him?" "The Indian Conservation Service was founded at the beginning of this century by a man named Mariano da Silva Rondon, a simple but generous idealist. His ideals are still alive today, some of them are Their spirit is commendable in this bureau. But I'm not an idealist, at least not in that sense. Thirty-eight of those treasure hunters formed a heinous column. Their murderous plan The first step is to distribute flour and sugar mixed with poison. Then a medical team—you heard me right, a medical team, David, with two doctors—inoculates nine hundred Indians Leprosy. Machine guns, napalm and gas massacres of old survivors. I'm not making up the slightest bit of fiction. I have evidence for everything and you can verify it. In fact, I'm hoping you will Check it out. I told you, you are the measuring instrument of my own feelings."

"Don't make me the judge on this." "I don't want you to be a judge. I just want you to be an unbiased witness to what's coming." Jorge Socrates called what happened afterward "the dance of death."David Setiniaz has taken note of each of its different phases.After his first trip to Brazil in 1969, he went there many times in the following years, at most five times a year. In fact, he sees this dance of death till it's over.For more than sixteen years he had been a "registration machine," filing and filing all the letters he received.Every time I have a full-fledged relationship with Leiber, I can't stay together for long.Sometimes there was no news of Reb for weeks on end, so that on several occasions Setiniaz even thought that Reb might disappear forever, either because he never wanted to be seen again, or because he died.

No newspaper, radio or television station would be interested in reporting the death of an obscure Klimrod.Besides, someone had to break the news to them first: who would do that?Haas?Unless he died later than Reb, which seems unlikely.Besides, Haas would never have told anyone if the king hadn't given him special instructions about the possibility. Many royal officials have this concern.One day, Nessim Shah was passing through New York and expressed his concerns to Setiniaz.He hadn't seen Reb for five months.Setniaz reassured Nessim by telling Nessim that he had seen Reb the previous week.Actually, Setiniaz wasn't telling the truth: the last time he had seen Reber was weeks ago...

Only Georges Taras was not at all anxious about these matters.He mocked Setiniaz for worrying about the case.To Taras, the king is immortal... Since 1967, the situation has changed. Setiniaz's function changed from what he called "clerk" to plenipotentiary.He has to be in charge of business management, and some things have to be decided.This required closer and more regular contact with Leiber.So a new procedure was instituted, and everything had to go through the "must have to go," with Diego Haas in charge. Strange to say, their personal relationship during this period was not as good as it used to be.Perhaps it was because Mauthausen had left an indelible scar on his spirit, perhaps because his soul had grown a hard, almost hateful lice.More importantly, Reber swore he loved the Indians infinitely.It was among the Indians that he found refuge after the Bogotá incident.

"Even if Aestivation was alive," Taras said, "he'd rather be a solitary man." Reber was his only life in the days when he lived with the Samatari and became one of them himself. A moment of real peace.He went back to them whenever he felt he needed to "get a little earthy."Setiniaz still feels hurt in some way emotionally. "The only point on which we disagree is the Indians. And his attitude to them. Like hundreds of others, I was bewitched, seduced, and manipulated by the King, who pissed me off a lot, There were times, though very rarely, when I came close to hating him. He aroused such extreme emotions in others simply because he had lost his sense of control. In fact, from the very beginning, when he wanted to serve the Indians There is a pathetic inconsistency between what people do and what he actually does for them, not to mention whether his love for the Indians is genuine or not, which is why he loves Gomez Dolivera is so ruthless. I don't feel sorry for what happened to this man, he is a human scum, there is no doubt about it...but after all..."