Pablo Busch

Pablo Busch
Portrait of Busch, c. 1930
Born	Paul Busch (1867-11-04)4 November 1867 Königsaue, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died	3 May 1950(1950-05-03) (aged 82) Portachuelo, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Occupations	Explorer physician politician
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Raquel Becerra Villavicencio ​ ​ (m. 1893; sep. 1903)​ Enriqueta Antelo Hurtado ​ ​ (m. 1912, separated)​
Partner	Petrona Baldivieso (c. 1908–1910)
Children	9, including Germán
Parent(s)	Ferdinand Busch Bertha Wiesener
Relatives	Alberto Natusch (grandson)

Pablo Busch Wiesener (born Paul Busch;^[α] 4 November 1867 – 3 May 1950) was a German-born explorer, physician, and politician. He served as subprefect of Ñuflo de Chávez Province from 1924 to 1925 and was the estranged father of Germán Busch, the president of Bolivia from 1937 to 1939.

Born in Königsaue and educated as a surgeon, Busch emigrated from Imperial Germany to eastern Bolivia [es] during the Amazon rubber boom. He was a shareholder and branch manager of the German-run trading company Zeller & Co., and made several medical expeditions along the Amazon and its tributaries. Busch led a nomadic lifestyle, with a presence in various communities in Beni and Santa Cruz. He built and abandoned multiple families and left many descendants throughout his lifetime.

During the Acre War, Busch lent logistical support to the Bolivian expeditionary force commanded by President José Manuel Pando. He gained personal recognition for his anti-blockade actions against Brazilian separatists. In politics, he was a member of the Republican Party and served as subprefect of the Ñuflo de Chávez Province. His harsh reign and ruthless imposition of order amid rampant banditry made him infamous across the department.

Busch reconnected with his son Germán in 1937 and was a trusted member of the president's administration. Historians partially attribute his influence to improved Bolivian–German relations during this time. Busch was caught in Germany during the outbreak of World War II and was interned after the conflict's conclusion. Bolivian diplomatic efforts secured his repatriation, and he died in Portachuelo.

Paul Busch was born on 4 November 1867 in Königsaue, an agrarian settlement in the fertile Magdeburg Börde, near the eponymous city, in what is now the Bördeland Municipality of Saxony-Anhalt.^[2] His father, Ferdinand Busch, was Kapellmeister of St. John's [de], the Lutheran church in neighboring Eickendorf, and taught music and mathematics there and in the adjacent villages. His mother was Bertha Wiesener, and he was one of at least four siblings – although some sources cite as many as seven.^[3][β]

Of his three named brothers, only one, Georg, ever accompanied Busch abroad. "Jorge", as his name was Hispanicized, moved to Bolivia in 1906, where he captained a steamboat that traversed the Mamoré River in the employ of his brother's company. After four years, he returned to Germany to work in Neumünster. Another brother, Wilhelm, studied philology in Berlin and spent his life as a school professor.^[5] Little is known of "Juan" – a translation of either Johann, Johannes, or Hans – the supposed eldest brother. An accountant and merchant, oral history states that he founded a brewery.^[6]

Busch completed his primary education in Eickendorf and attended secondary in neighboring Magdeburg. He graduated as a physician in Halle an der Saale and completed specialist medical training at several German institutes.^[7][γ] He received a doctorate in surgery from a university in Berlin with a specialization in tropical diseases.^[11] Writer Carlos Montenegro notes that Busch was "little more than in his mid-adolescence" by the time he completed his university studies.^[12]

In 1890, at age 23, Busch immigrated to Bolivia to seek a career in education. The exact motives for his departure are unclear.^[6] Heinrich states that he was obligated into exile due to his republican and anti-monarchist views.^[8] Busch booked passage on the Hamburg America Line and made port in Buenos Aires.^[13] From there, he traveled by land through the northern Argentine trail, passing the cities of Rosario, Santa Fe, and Santiago del Estero toward the Bolivian frontier.^[11] En route, he was set upon by bandits but is said to have fought off his attackers. In a tale recounted by historian Mario Gabriel Hollweg, Busch purportedly fractured one bandit's skull with his cane and delivered the other to the police himself.^[9]

Upon his arrival in Bolivia, Busch settled in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, a then-remote city isolated from the Andean west [es] but which benefitted from the flourishing rubber boom.^[14] There, Busch developed a close friendship with Wálter Villinger, a compatriot emigrant from Biberach an der Riß in Baden, who invited him to enter business with one Emilio Zeller.^[15] A prominent wholesaler who emigrated from Baden around the 1880s, Zeller had established himself in the years since as the largest industrialist in the Bolivian orient [es].^[16] His joint trading company primarily dealt in the import-export trade but had a hand in several industries and operated a sizeable fleet of steamboats, which ferried passengers and cargo through the rivers of the Bolivian Amazon [es].^[17] Villinger and Busch's involvement with Zeller gave rise to Zeller, Villinger & Co., with Busch as one of the firm's main shareholders.^[18]

Over the following years, Busch navigated the many tributaries of the Amazon basin, which connected isolated communities to the major eastern population centers. He attended – often pro bono – to the medical needs of local indigenous tribes.^[19] According to Hollweg, his penchant for accurate diagnoses, efficient treatments, and therapeutic accomplishments led superstitious minds to label him a "witch or curandero".^[9] Between 1893 and 1895, Busch settled in Trinidad, Beni, where he practiced medicine and managed the branch office of his partners' firm. Soon, however, swelling dissatisfaction with sedentary life spurred him to move on. For the next eight years, Busch lived as a semi-nomad. His recurrent medical expeditions and business ventures on behalf of Zeller led him to frequent several riverside communities in the departments of Beni and Santa Cruz, especially Baures, the site of his trade office, and San Javier, where he owned a residence.^[20]

Busch actively supported the Bolivian camp during the Acre conflict, between 1899 and 1903. The dispute centered around armed attempts by separatist Brazilian colonists to seize control of Bolivia's rubber-rich northern territories [es].^[21] Bolivian forces drew sizable volunteer support from German expats, many of whom were employed by foreign and national corporations operating in the region.^[22] For his part, Busch put his steamboat at the service of the Bolivian expedition, supplying food and ammunition. His successful efforts in breaking through the separatist blockade, wherein he was nearly taken prisoner, earned him a personal letter of recognition from President José Manuel Pando, who commanded Bolivian troops in the field.^[23]

In 1904, Busch relocated to Baures in the Iténez Province, where he worked as branch manager of Zeller & Co., whose local office had become the town's largest trading house. Here, in 1909, he co-founded the second publishing company in Beni using a printing press imported from Germany. It published El Porvenir, the department's only newspaper outside of Trinidad.^[24]

During this time, Busch continued his routine river expeditions. In 1908, while navigating either the Mamoré or Iténez River, his vessel was ambushed by a Cayubaba tribe. The attack left Busch gravely wounded in the stomach, but he managed to make port in Puerto Ballivián [es] before being transferred to Trinidad. A local doctor removed an arrow shaft from his abdomen but could not extract the point lodged in his vertebra.^[25] In Baures on 23 July, Busch signed his final will and testament, the contents of which are a source of academic dispute.^[26]

Rather than approach nearby nations, Busch elected to seek treatment in his native Germany. He was transported by river from Trinidad to the transatlantic port of Belém do Pará and spent thirty days in agony aboard a German steamship bound for Hamburg. There, Busch underwent several successful operations, where it was shown that he had suffered seven gastrointestinal perforations. He spent the next few years in convalescence in Germany, where medical expenses forced him to sell off his stocks in Zeller & Co.^[27]

Busch reentered Beni by way of the Madeira and Mamoré rivers in either 1910 or 1911.^[28] He established a small enterprise selling imported hardware, but the venture fell through.^[29] He spent short stints in the hamlets of Yaguarú and El Puente in Guarayos Province and practiced medicine among the indigenous peoples of the surrounding Franciscan missions.^[30] From there, Busch moved to the Ñuflo de Chávez Province.^[31] He settled permanently in Concepción and returned to the employ of Zeller & Co. as an advisor and physician for the local branch.^[32] During this time, Busch also worked for the British firms Anglo-Bolivian Rubber Co. and Trading Co. Ltda.^[28]

Beginning around 1918, it became common for prominent Germans in Santa Cruz to acquire Bolivian citizenship and participate in local government.^[33] For his part, Busch served as chief physician in the Public Health Service of Concepción.^[30] In 1920, a coup d'état in La Paz unseated the reigning Liberal government and installed the Republican Party in power.^[34] Busch joined the party, attracted by its populist platform.^[35] The new government faced constant opposition from the deposed Liberals and operated under a state of exception for several years.^[36] In the province of Ñuflo de Chávez, the political situation was much the same with the added factor of banditry, rampant in the region.^[37] To quell the unrest, the administration of Bautista Saavedra named Busch subprefect in June 1924.^[38] Previous authorities – including César Banzer, a personal friend of Busch and father of Hugo Banzer^[39] – had all struggled to pacify the province.^[40]

During his term, Busch became known as a "harsh authority" for the "severe methods" applied to bring order to the province.^[41] His efforts were consistently opposed by the Liberals, who "suffered first-hand the harshness of Busch's selective kindness".^[42] Busch led a relentless campaign to stamp out banditry and apprehend the outlaw Carmelo Hurtado.^[43] The infamous gunslinger had gained a reputation as a "romantic brigand" and became a popular folk hero among the people.^[44] In the conflict between Busch and Hurtado, "it is impossible to separate fiction from reality".^[45] One account tells of Busch confronting Hurtado in an armed skirmish. The bandit supposedly had the chance to kill Busch but chose to spare him because "he treated the poor for free".^[46] By the end of his term, the inhabitants of Concepción were on the verge of rebellion and his reputation for ruthlessness reached as far as Santa Cruz de la Sierra.^[47] Busch was finally dismissed on 6 October 1925 after sixteen months in office.^[48]

During a stopover in Trinidad on an expedition in 1892, Busch met his first wife, Raquel Becerra Villavicencio.^[49] They maintained an intermittent romantic relationship between Busch's regular comings and goings and were finally wed in Trinidad on 12 June 1893. He was 25 years old, she 18, approaching 19.^[50][δ]

Busch fathered five children during his marriage with Becerra. Due to the couple's itinerant lifestyle, only the eldest, Josefina (b. 1895), was born in Trinidad – although even her birthplace is stated as Santa Ana del Yacuma in Busch's much-questioned testament. The remaining four were all delivered along the routes of Busch's expeditions. Bertha Beni (b. 1897) was born in either Villa Bella or somewhere along the Beni River between there and Cachuela Esperanza. Elisa (b. 1900) and Pablo (b. 1901) were both born in San Javier.^[52][ε] The birthplace of Busch's fifth and youngest son with Becerra, Germán (b. 1903), remains a subject of debate among scholars, who claim either El Carmen del Iténez [es] or San Javier as the site. Opinions often lie along regional lines depending on whether the advocate party is from Beni or Santa Cruz.^[54]

Josefina married Miguel Kiyoto, a Japanese immigrant and grocer, in 1932.^[55] Bertha married Samuel Ávila Alvarado in 1911, from which the prominent Ávila–Busch and Ávila–Chávez families of Trinidad descend.^[56] A cattle rancher [es], Ávila later served as a diplomat and senator.^[57] Elisa and the professor Alberto Natusch Velasco were wed in San Javier on 27 January 1900;^[58] through them, Busch is the maternal grandfather of Alberto Natusch Busch, the president of Bolivia in 1979.^[59] The junior Pablo became a physician like his father and inherited his tendency for promiscuity; he succumbed to addiction in his youth and died of an overdose in April 1932.^[60]

Mere months after the birth of Germán, Busch abandoned the family.^[62] According to his granddaughter, Gloria Busch Carmona, the family narrative is that Busch "saw a beautiful 14-year-old girl, fell madly in love, and left [Becerra] and their children to go with her".^[63] Busch remained estranged from his family; he and Becerra reunited only once in 1938, and he was absent in his children's lives well into adulthood.^[64]

Throughout his life, Germán sent sporadic letters to Busch, which went unanswered. He finally agreed to meet in 1937 after his son wrote one last message framed as an ultimatum.^[65] On 5 July, Germán departed for Concepción on a small Junkers W 34, but the plane did not arrive as intended.^[66] His apparent disappearance "plunged [Busch] into the darkest despair and remorse".^[67] Busch later narrated that he had given himself one hour for Germán to arrive or else he would commit suicide: "I would shoot myself, because, fallen in the forest and devoured by vermin, [my son] would have died because of me, because of the longing to see his father".^[68] Within the hour, the plane had landed, and "father and son embraced each other in a long hug".^[69] It was "the most extraordinary episode of [Germán's] life", says historian Porfirio Díaz Machicao [es].^[70]

Three days after his return from Concepción,^[71] Germán became president of Bolivia.^[72] From then on, Busch – who, by all accounts, had never before set foot in La Paz – became a common presence in the Palacio Quemado.^[73] Matilde Carmona, the first lady, resented Busch's "sudden paternal devotion because it seemed to her – with reason – self-serving".^[74] For historian Robert Brockmann, "the filial love of a father who disregards ... his newborn son and then clings to him when he becomes powerful is doubtful".^[75] Because of his outsized influence, "it is very probable" that the president's German-born father played a role in the Bolivian government's deepened ties with the Third Reich during this time.^[76] Busch met with multiple German officials on behalf of the administration; he discussed economic relations with Ernst Wendler and Joachim von Ribbentrop and attended an opera with Adolf Hitler, whom he gifted a vicuña wool quilt.^[77]

During his time in Baures, Busch met Petrona Baldivieso, the mestiza daughter of the local cacique. Busch and Baldivieso never married.^[78] They had one child, Carlos (b. 1908), born in Baures.^[79] Months later, Busch suffered the attack that forced him to seek treatment in Germany. Once he had healed, Busch returned to Bolivia but not to Baldivieso nor their son.^[80] Carlos later served with distinction in the Chaco War, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant.^[81] He was chief of police of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in 1938, during the administration of his half-brother, Germán. He was murdered along with his daughter in 1946.^[82]

In 1912, Busch married Enriqueta Antelo Hurtado, a woman from Santa Rosa de la Mina, whom he had met a few days prior. Their first son, Gustavo (b. 1915), died in infancy.^[28] Their second son, also named Gustavo (b. 1916), was born in El Puente.^[83] Gustavo studied business management and became a prominent broadcaster and radio personality; he owned the stations Libertad in La Paz and Centenario in Santa Cruz.^[84] Dora (b. 1928), the youngest of Busch's children, was born in Concepción.^[28] Her son, Herland Vaca Díez Busch,^[85] a renowned nephrologist, served as president of the Pro-Santa Cruz Civic Committee [es] from 2011 to 2013 and was head of the Santa Cruz Historical and Geographic Studies Society.^[86]

Busch departed for Germany to receive cataract surgery on 10 May 1939.^[87] He was in Genoa when he received the telegram reporting the sudden suicide in office of his son, Germán, on 23 August. Like many in the Busch family, he blamed the death on his in-laws, the Carmonas.^[88] Once in Germany, Busch was caught unawares by the outbreak of World War II on 1 September; he remained trapped in the Third Reich for the duration of the conflict.^[89] Despite his advanced age, he was pressed into service as a field surgeon operating out of Neumünster in Schleswig-Holstein.^[90] Upon the war's conclusion, Busch was interned in a British prisoner-of-war camp and was stripped of his diplomatic passport by José Saavedra, an erstwhile political rival of his late son.^[91] The ordeal left Busch undocumented alongside millions of other displaced Germans.^[92]

Sometime after the war, thanks to the diplomatic efforts of Aniceto Solares, the Bolivian foreign minister who lobbied British authorities, Busch and other nationals were released and repatriated.^[92] He reentered Bolivia in either 1946 or 1948.^[93] Prior to his return, Busch married his niece, some forty years his junior, who accompanied him back to Bolivia. Unable to acclimate to the tropical climate, she returned to Germany not long thereafter.^[94] The government of Carlos Quintanilla had decreed Busch be granted a life pension of Bs. 2,000 monthly, which he never received.^[95] He spent his final years in Portachuelo, where he died on 3 May 1950. Hollweg states he died of pneumonia, but Brockmann affirms that his family does not know the cause of death.^[92] His remains are entombed in the Kiyoto–Busch family mausoleum in La Paz.^[8]

An eccentric figure, described as equal parts philanthropic and cruel, historical accounts of Busch's life are steeped in folklore and often contradictory. His legacy is closely intertwined with that of his son, Germán.^[96] For Brockmann, Busch was an "intrepid pioneer ... to whom Bolivia also owes the exploration of many rivers ... at a time when such an adventure required valor and temerity".^[97] His deeds "left legend in San Javier and Concepción, where with a tall hat, surgical case, and rifle, he waged war against the fearsome brigands of those regions", recounts Augusto Céspedes.^[98]

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