Iquitos, Loreto, 10 March 1950
Consul Joaquim Nabuco returned to his office at the consulate from his morning rounds about the city. There was much to record in his day book – eventually some of his notes would make their way into his formal reports to the Ministry. The most prominent item was the debut of Iquitos’s own daily newspaper, El Diario Correo, which had premiered that morning. Nabuco had managed to secure a copy before the initial print run had sold out. It contained nothing earth-shattering, but the fact that Iquitos could now support its own newspaper was further sign of the city’s maturing economy.
Of greater concern perhaps was the matter of the steamer Curitiba, one of his country’s vessels that regularly plied the river. Rather than having her descend the river to her home port of Manaus her owners had made arrangements to have her repaired and refitted in the new floating drydock operated by the Peruvian Navy. There was not prohibition against it, and the Peruvians were happy to be paid for the work, but the consul was unhappy that her owners would prefer give the work to foreigners. Nabuco took it as a sign of the times.
The number of Peruvian-flag vessels on the river was another sign of its commitment to the development of the region. The fast motor launches of the Peruvian Marines were nearly ubiquitous, carrying out their own maneuvers as well as assisting the Peruvian Army’s rural settlement units. According to all that he had learned, no fewer that twelve such teams had established new settlements across the province, each providing the setting for schools, clinics, and, where the terrain was suitable, plantations for cash crops that contributed to the economic development of the local population. He had reported to Brasilia many times of the activities of the Peruvian social action platforms, which operated on the rivers to complement the Army’s settlement units.
From the scene of border conflicts between Peru and its neighbors the Tres Fronteras now seemed to be a showcase for Peru to demonstrate its willingness to prove itself a good neighbor, and in this regard it was putting his own government to shame, to say nothing of the Colombians.