A diplomacia do Patacão: guerra, dívida e poder na bacia do rio da Prata

Abstract

Several studies have been conducted on the state indebtedness process in Brazil, but few researchers have dedicated themselves to studying its role as a creditor in the capitalist interstate system. In 1850, in the context of the War against Oribe and Rosas, Brazil became a creditor to the government of Montevideo, who was surrounded. This credit relationship that seemed circumstantial expanded temporal and territorially, consolidating long-term debts from Uruguay and Argentina to Brazil. This loan policy became known as the “Diplomacia do Patacão” and lasted until 1867, during the War of the Triple Alliance against Paraguay. In this context, the Baron of Mauá, who initially functioned as an intermediary of Brazilian loans, began to expand his business by creating several bank branches in the River Plate basin, intertwining his interests with those of the imperial government. The aim of this work is therefore to investigate how this regional credit ratio worked throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. It is documentary research, which is based on sources researched in archives in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, as well as in collections available on the internet; but it is also bibliographic research, based on historiography produced in the three countries. Starting from an interdisciplinary approach that brings together Economic History and International Political Economy, the research results indicate the “Diplomacia do Patacão” was just one of the factors that were part of the "Brazilian policy of peripheral power" in the region of the Rio de la Plata basin, but it can be a preponderant factor from the point of view of economic history, as it represents a kind of partnership between political power and private capital.