Soto

The plantations Groot and Klein Santa Martha were laid out at the beginning of the 18th century. Together with San Nicolaas, further west, they made the Santa Martha Bay the island's largest salt supplier. This was thanks to enslaved people who, after the abolition of slavery, had to leave the plantations Groot and Klein Santa Martha. They settled mainly along the main road and the access road to Landhuis Groot Santa Martha. Thus there once stood as many as 50 little houses of independent farmers here, which formed the basis for a new bario: Soto.

Bentana's

Soto thus came into being partly as a result of the abolition of slavery. From its earliest years it grew into a self-sufficient village where basic necessities such as maize and rice were sold through bentana's — shop windows. Clothing, furniture and household appliances were bought in later years from mobile shops of Lebanese traders who offered their wares from their cars. For larger purchases people travelled to Otrobanda, which counted as the shopping centre for Bandabou. The Ro'i Soto was furthermore important for the residents as a connecting road to Barber: first to reach the church, but since Soto had its own church mainly to get to the market of Barber.

New parish

Soto became an independent parish as early as 1925, and where the school now stands a wooden Roman Catholic church of its own arose, with a likewise wooden tower and a school building. This became the core of the little village, and around 1930 houses arose in its vicinity too. The former rectory stood where the neighbourhood centre of Soto is now housed. And in the wooden house of the sisters next to the church, education was given for the first time. Both the church and the successive priests took a central place in daily life in the bario. The church was the social meeting point for the residents, also because announcements from the government and social activities in the neighbourhood and surroundings were made known here by the priest. And after the Holy Mass the latest news was exchanged on the church square.

San Antonio de Padua

In 1950 the wooden church was replaced by the present stone church, festively consecrated by pastor Walter, who had also supervised the construction. The parish is dedicated to Saint Anthony, San Antonio de Padua, who died on 13 June 1231. This date is commemorated annually in Soto with various festivities and is visited by many visitors who come from far to the bario. Around 1950 churches were financed by the Netherlands, but for that of Soto the local population raised the necessary amount, and the Austrian architect G.O. Vetter was engaged for the execution. Vetter was also the designer of the churches of Steenrijk, Lagun, Zuid Bonam, Suffisant and Coromoto (Zjaro) and various convents on the island. Later, next to the church, there also appeared a fine stone school with a unique slate roof, the cemetery and a convent. In 1952 the government bought plantation Santa Martha, which was then officially divided into the landhuis with its associated grounds and the residential districts Santa Martha and Soto.

Brothers

Besides nuns, the brothers (fraters) were also active at Soto: they set up the Don Sartos school for boys from Soto and Sint Wilibrordus. It stood on the main road and was opened in 1957. In addition the Catholic Church received a large piece of land and government subsidy for the construction of the boys' boarding school San Fernando. It was opened in 1961 and once housed 96 orphans and boys from broken families or otherwise difficult to bring up. In 1961 part of the complex, which lies opposite the church, was also used as a brothers' house. In 1978 the brothers' house was disbanded and, on the government's initiative, fitted out as the retreat house Kas di Orashon Emaus. The aim of the retreat house is to offer adults and young people from the city rest and "introspection amid the tranquil nature of Bandabou". The boarding school remained in use until 1992 but, when the government subsidy stopped and the brothers left in 1995, was transferred to Stichting Sint Thomas College. Symbolically, this also ended the traditional education and formation that had been carried out on Curaçao for years by clergy. Later, around 2010, San Fernando suddenly made the news again through complaints by former young residents about sexual abuse by the brothers from Tilburg. Nowadays the monumental complex has stood empty for years and is prey to vandalism. Unlike the Kas di Orashon Emaus, which is still maintained.

Cemetery

North of the present cemetery of Soto there formerly lay, on a higher plateau, a slave cemetery, "Santana di catibu nan". Older residents have still seen graves there. In the present cemetery of Soto stands the family grave of Serge Alexenco, a Russian architect who carried out various monumental restorations, such as that of Landhuis Brievengat. Alexenco also made plaster impressions of Jewish gravestones at Bleinheim so that these would be preserved for posterity: the original gravestones were being damaged by exhaust fumes from the refinery.

Exodus

On various occasions the male residents moved away from Soto in search of a better income. That happened, for example, during the mining activities at Santa Barbara at the beginning of the 19th century, when many men from Soto and Santa Martha decided to settle at Bandariba. Between 1917 and 1921 many men left Soto again for Cuba to work on sugar plantations there. The arrival of the oil refinery in 1915 finally caused another mass departure of men who went to live close to the refinery. The social situation of Soto remained worrying, however: research by Reda Sosial from 1999 showed that Soto was the poorest neighbourhood of Curaçao, with an average monthly income among those working of 1,159 guilders.

Botero

Soto was also once very well known for its doctor's surgery, where the Colombian doctor Botero had his practice. Botero was a naturopath and was also visited by patients who lived far from Soto but were willing to make the trip to Bandabou for it.

Sources

• M. Visman: Herkomst van onze streek- en plantagenamen
• P. Brenneker: Sambumbu, various editions
• Ministerie SOAW: Buurtprofiel Soto
• Report of the Werkgroep Archeologie: Soto
• Knipselkrant Curaçao, 8 February 2015

With thanks to: François van der Hoeven, Frensel Mercelina and Christel Monsanto.