Luisa Calderon

Luisa Calderon (* probably 1787; † unknown) was a Trinidadian domestic worker who was involved in the most important political affair in Trinidad in the early 19th century and indirectly caused the overthrow of Governor Thomas Picton .

Life

Luisa Calderon, according to isolated sources also Maria Luisa Calderon or Louisa Calderon, came from a poor background. She was the youngest of three daughters of the released from slavery, from the Spanish province of Venezuela native mulatto Maria Calderon. The surname Calderon goes back to the person who ransomed her mother from slavery; the original surname of the mother and daughter was that of the mother's then owner, Nuñez. Trinidad had been a British colony since 1797, but Calderon only spoke Spanish, which was still the colloquial language in Trinidad at that time. Since around July 1799, when she was 12 or 13 years old at the time, she was the housekeeper of Pedro Ruiz, a cattle dealer who originally came from Venezuela and who lived in Port of Spain , and lived in his house, which is located in Plaza de la Marina (today's Independence Square ) was in the immediate vicinity of the governor's seat. Calderon's mother later testified that Luisa was also Ruiz's mistress and that he had promised her marriage. The mastership was confirmed by Ruiz.

The Luisa Calderon case

On December 7, 1801, Pedro Ruiz returned from a trip to St. Joseph . At home he found that a chest where he was keeping valuables had been broken into; 2,000 dollars in hard money and gold jewelry were missing, and some boards had been broken off the outer wall to an adjacent alley. He reported the theft to Governor Picton and accused his housekeeper, Calderon, and a man named Carlos Gonzales, whom he suspected of having an affair with Calderon. The girl was shown to Picton in his service mansion; the governor had the then 14-year-old, her mother and Gonzales arrested and thrown in prison in Port of Spain. He then handed the case over to the responsible justice of the peace, Hilaire Bégorrat.

At that time, British law was theoretically in force in the British colony of Trinidad. However, since the island was only conquered by the Spanish in 1797 and the British made up a clear minority of the population (in 1803 the proportion of the total free population was 12%), Spanish law was applied in practice with the tolerance of the colonial power. Because of the great distance to the former Spanish motherland, some legal principles and legal procedures had also been adapted to the needs of a remote colony, but this was purely customary law and had no binding force vis-à-vis the respective colonial power, but was only accepted by the society of Trinidad. In Britain in 1801, abolitionism grew in popularity, while the economy of the Trinidad colony was based on the exploitation of slaves in agriculture. Governor Picton was an advocate of slavery. Still under the influence of the Haitian Revolution , he drove a harsh regime against defiant and supposedly defiant slaves; Torture and executions were the order of the day, and the Port of Spain prison was considered a manifestation of hell by slaves.

The Torture of Luisa Calderon (drawing from 1806)

Calderon did not confess. On December 22, 1801, Bégorrat drafted an order for an embarrassing questioning , which Picton signed. On the evening of the following day Bégorrat was in prison Calderon an unusually harsh even for Trinidadian relations torture called "Piquet" Making that he as a disciplinary tool in Martinique had met and was no longer practiced in Europe for decades: Calderon's left foot was on her right wrist tied. She was hung by her left wrist and rested with her right foot on a rounded, thin post that was driven into the ground, on which her entire weight rested. The pain in the foot was considerable and could only be relieved by shifting the weight onto the wrist, which was also painful. In addition to Bégorrat, five officials and assistants, including the clerk, were present as witnesses. Calderon made a partial confession with which she incriminated Gonzales, but denied her own involvement in the crime. The next day, Christmas Eve, a similar torture followed, which had to be stopped without admission because Calderon passed out several times. Torture was illegal under British law at the time, but under Spanish law it was allowed under certain circumstances from the age of 14 and was a common practice in Trinidad. There were no immediate consequences from what had happened - Calderon refused a usable confession even under torture, and as governor Picton was hardly subject to any restrictions on Trinidad itself. Over the years, however, he had made enemies among those inhabitants of British origin who indulged in the comparatively humanistic, sometimes Jacobin ideals of their homeland. This opposition made its voice heard in London until the competent ministry decided there in July 1802 to set up a three-man commissioner in place of the post of governor. William Fullarton was appointed First Commissioner and responsible for civil administration . Picton was to be Second Commissioner in charge of military affairs on land; Samuel Hood was named Third Commissioner in charge of the Navy. In August 1802, Calderon was released on Picton's instructions after eight months in prison, where Picton continued to be convinced of her perpetrators; she had "served her guilt through the long imprisonment". In January 1803, Fullarton, an avowed opponent of slavery, arrived in Port of Spain and within a few days clashed with Picton in such a way that a lifelong enmity arose, under which Fullarton instrumentalized the Calderon case.

Fullarton gathered evidence to support an indictment against Picton and soon decided to focus on the most promising case, that of the torture of Luisa Calderon. His henchman had a fake birth certificate made that made Calderon two years younger, and her mother swore the new year of birth. The London court that Fullarton wrote to asked for witnesses. With the prospect of having their living expenses in London covered by the British government, almost everyone directly involved in the case agreed to travel to Great Britain with Fullarton: Luisa Calderon herself, but also the five officials and assistants who were involved in the torture were present. In July 1803 Fullarton, victim and perpetrator traveled together to Great Britain, initially to Glasgow, near which the entourage initially spent a few days on Fullarton's property in Ayrshire . As a colored woman, Calderon was a striking, exotic figure with her traditional muslin turban ; contemporary reports describe her as "Creole with an interesting face, elegant appearance (and) slender and graceful". A few days later, the entourage left for London, where Fullarton was charged with illegally torturing a free black woman under the age of 14. Picton landed in October of the same year and found himself the center of public interest; Newspapers dubbed him the "bloodstained governor of Trinidad". Although Picton was still little known at the time, the allegations against him fit into the time shaped by the discourse on slavery, stories from the colonies had an aura of harsh exoticism, and the one present during the trial in London and regular Luisa Calderon strolling through the city became a popular object of tabloid media coverage. Calderon portraits were sold on the streets of London. Negative rumors were also spread, but remained unproven: She had given Fullarton a child in Scotland and was a prostitute. In early December 1803 Picton was arrested and released on payment of a very large bail. The process dragged on. The court requested additional documents from Trinidad and ordered additional witnesses to be questioned locally. A one-way trip between Trinidad and London took two months, so there were delays in any communication. In Trinidad, friends of Picton and friends of Fullarton were busy forging documents in their own right and influencing witnesses. In December 1804, the hearing of witnesses began in Port of Spain. A central point of the interrogations was the determination of Calderon's correct age, which turned out to be difficult because there were no written records and witnesses in an attempt to harm Picton gave implausible information; For example, Calderon's mother temporarily gave life dates that would have retrospectively meant that Calderon would have become Ruiz's mistress at the age of seven. In London, on the other hand, interest shifted to the extent to which Spanish law actually allowed torture.

Picton was found guilty of illegal torture on February 24, 1806, a review procedure was initiated, but the beginning dragged on. Fullarton died in February 1808, and the proceedings against Picton were reopened in June of the same year. Luisa Calderon had lived in the UK for five years, had learned English and no longer needed an interpreter. She was again forced to describe the torture and show the scars on her wrists. This time, however, the judgment of the court was different; Picton was acquitted. Luisa Calderon, who had disappeared from the public eye and was left unrelated in Great Britain after Fullarton's death, asked through her lawyer for a passport to return to Trinidad. Nothing is known about their further fate.

Until well into the 20th century, historians assumed that Calderon had indeed committed the crime of which she was charged. Today it is more likely that Ruiz was just faking the theft and tried to blame Calderon because he knew about her relationship with Gonzales.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Lionel Mordaunt Fraser: History of Trinidad, Vol. I: From 1781 to 1813 . Government Printing Office, Port of Spain 1891, p. 214 .
2. ↑ Michael Anthony : Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago . Scarecrow Press, London 1997, ISBN 0-8108-3173-2 , pp. 86 .
3. ↑ VS Naipaul : Farewell to Eldorado . List Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-548-60358-0 , pp. 225 .
4. ↑ Fraser, p. 251
5. ↑ Michael Anthony: Profile Trinidad: A Historical Survey from the Discovery to 1900 . 4th edition. Macmillan Caribbean, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-16666-3 , pp. 72 .
6. ^ Naipaul, p. 217
7. ^ ^{A b} Luisa Calderon: Victim and Survivor . In: Trinidad Express . November 22, 2011.
8. ^ Anthony, Historical Dictionary, p. 239
9. ↑ Fraser, p. 221
10. ↑ Naipaul, p. 301
11. ↑ Naipaul, p. 315
12. ↑ Naipaul, p. 371
13. ^ Gertrude Carmichael: The History of the West Indian Islands of Trinidad and Tobago . Alvin Redman, London 1961, p. 51 .
14. ↑ Naipaul, p. 228