THE DESPERADOES' REPUBLIC
La República de los Desperados

Many years ago I read a book called "Gentlemen Convicts" by one François Poli. It was translated from the French ("Gentlemen Bagnards") by one Naomi Walford. The original was published in 1959, the English translation in 1960.
The story told was of the adventures of some escapees from the penal colonies of French Guiana. The main characters survived many ordeals and became, under assumed identities, successful businessmen in the Caribbean.
One of the men, Elizondo, spent some time in a place known as the Desperadoes' Republic. When I read the account I wasn't sure whether the Republic was a real place or a product of the author's imagination. I still don't to be honest.
however, a few years later I read an article in a magazine about the republic. It didn't appear to be based on Poli's book. A couple of names occurred in both accounts; the town of Camaia, the American Marcus, or Markus. One additional detail from the magazine article; the authorities in Colombia, or Venezuela, or both, had had enough of the Republic. bombed it from the air, and ended its existence.
Once I got access to the internet I went in search of more information on the Desperadoes' Republic. To my astonishment I found none. Not in English, French, Spanish or Portuguese. Could the whole thing have been a tall story?
I have decided to post this so that some account exists on the internet. First, as a starting point for anyone undertaking a search, as I did. Second, to draw out any information that is held by others but not yet published. The following is quoted direct from Poli's book (novel?).

It is called the Republica de los Desperados because it is peopled exclusively by ex-convicts, murderers, thieves and gangsters whom no country in the world will receive within its borders. It lies on the borders of Colombia an Venezuela, between the Rio Negro and the Orinoco. The story began in about 1930.
The first outlaws to settle in this territory, which is half the size of France and is covered with virgin forest, had only one aim; to escape the police who were on their trail. There were all sorts among them: Mexican, Venezuelan and Colombian bandits, escaped convicts from both American prisons and from Saint-Laurent-du-maroni. For some the only law recognised was was that of the knife and the Colt. Then a leader was appointed; he collected "ministers" about him and drew up a code of laws which the outlaws agreed to respect. And they did respect it. there was honour among thieves. The penalty for the first offence was expulsion from the Republic; for the second, a bullet. They had law courts, police and an executioner. But they had to live, and as panning for gold did not bring in enough, the desperadoes organised periodic raids beyond their borders with the object of attacking shepherds and robbing them of their flocks. Complaints reached Caracas and Bogota and the existence of the Republic was revealed. The police sent in punitive expeditions, which failed. Robbery continued. New arrivals crossed the frontier every week, the greater number coming from American prisons and the French penal settlement in Guiana; but there were also women from the casitas of Rio, Buenos Aires and Caracas. How did they get through the forest? No one knows. They arrived in a state of exhaustion,lured by gold and diamonds and by these men, who had the reputation for being open-handed. Saloons on the western model were opened, and a whole town grew out of the jungle; it was called Camaia. Hostilities at an end, a deputation of outlaws went to Bogota and concluded a strange treaty with the Colombian government. The desperadoes would refrain from stealing livestock on condition that no police ever entered their territory, and that they might be allowed to live in peace.

...

[Here Elizondo is speaking]

"The man who is president today is called Markus: an escaped prisoner from America. The mayor of Camaia, the second man in the state, is an Italian; the chief of police is a Corsican. Nearly all the traders are from Central Europe; the builders from Italy. Many of the sheep-men are American ex-convicts. Altogether there are between fifteen and thirty thousand men in the Republica de los Desperados, but there are no statistics to give the exact figures of the population. ... It seems that in Camaia they're getting worried, and that Venezuela and Colombia have had enough of the Republica."