Brazil Reticent on Releasing Papers on Country’s Imperialistic Moves and Nuke Ambitions

Baron of Rio BrancoThe possible release of secret documents dating back to 1864/70 Brazil-Paraguay war is causing concern among members of the Brazilian government. The papers also deal with the taking over of the state of Acre from Bolivia in 1903, current military exercises along the Brazilian border, nuclear research, among other issues. 

Brazilian diplomats have warned that revealing the archives of the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay) war against Paraguay could affect current relations, according to the influential daily newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.

At the time the Paraguayans virtually fought to the last man, with almost all the male population 10 to 60 years killed during the war and forcing the Brazilians to leave behind the Army. Brazil at the time was an empire, and Dom Pedro II ruler.

In recent years the construction of the world’ largest operational hydroelectric dam, Itaipu, shared between Brazil and Paraguay could also expose alleged ‘dealings’ between the dictatorships of both countries at the time (1970).

Similarly members from the current administration of President Dilma Rousseff fear that the arguments in support for recent military exercises along its borders (Brazil has borders with all South American countries but Chile and Ecuador) and ‘potential conflict situations’ could surprise many of ‘our neighbors’.

The Brazilian military are also concerned that disclosures could expose agreements reached by the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964/1985) and other countries of the region referred to the Plan Condor, which enabled the kidnap, exchange and killings of alleged opponents of the military regimes of the time in South America.

The debate over the partial or total disclosure of government documents and the timetable for such decisions has become a dominant issue of the Brazilian political agenda.

Former presidents and currently senators José Sarney and Fernando Collor de Mello have called for caution and recommended that some documents should remain undisclosed for another fifty years.

Besides the historic issues affecting neighboring countries the former leaders warned about documents referred to nuclear research and ‘tests’, particularly when Argentina and Brazil, not so long ago, were competing for the leadership of the continent.
Another most sensitive issue pointed out by diplomats and the military refers to the state of Acre, which originally belonged to Bolivia, but in a several decades process was finally incorporated to the Brazilian union in 1920. Earlier in 1903 Brazil convinced Bolivia to take 2.5 million British pounds in gold (US$ 4.05 million) and a gift of two white stallions for the Bolivian president.

According to Folha, the Baron of Rio Branco, a former Brazilian Foreign Affairs minister and considered the father and reference of Brazilian diplomacy is attributed with having handsomely bribed several Bolivian officials so to confirm the Amazon basin Acre was finally ceded to Brazil.

However Catholic priest Frei Betto, one of Latin Americas’ promoters of the so-called Liberation Doctrine criticized hiding what he described as the “historic massacre and plundering” of Paraguay and their people.

“Non disclosure pretends to cover up the shameful participation of the Duque de Caxias, patron of the Brazilian Army who commanded our troops during that war,” said Frei Betto.

During that conflict “Brazil took over 40% of Paraguayan territory,” said Frei Betto who has no political militancy but once was an advisor to former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Mercopress

Tags:

You May Also Like

International Passengers in Brazil to Benefit from New Gol-Varig Accord

Brazilian Airline Gol and its own subsidiary Varig entered into an agreement effective September ...

Brazil’s Lula Tells UN Chief United Nations Must Change

"The path to Bali passes through BrasÀ­lia (capital of Brazil)". The statement made by ...

Out of Asia Brazil Becomes World’s Top Rice Consumer and Producer

Brazilian exports of rice from March to August totaled 560,000 tons. The result is ...

The World’s Best Arab Eatery Is Hidden in the Brazilian Jungle

Nobody would believe it if it was said that the best Arab restaurant in ...

Biodiesel plant in the Brazilian Northeast

Brazil’s Restrictive Laws on Biodiesel Are Turning Investors to Europe

Biofuels are in the news and Brazil is consequently taking center stage. As Lula ...

Brazil Promises Minimum Primary Surplus of 4.25%

Brazil’s 2006 budget primary surplus will have a "floor of 4.25% of GDP" forecasted ...

Getting to See the World Through the Eyes of a Brazilian Actress

The most varied angles of Dubai are part of book "GNT Mundo Afora", recently ...

International Federation Warns that Brazil Is Ripe for More Air Tragedies

London-based International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), which represents about 4.5 million transport workers from ...

August 1994

CONTENTS: Cover: Fighting for the land (p. 7) Presidential election: we have a tie ...

Brazilian Farmers Get Paid for Reforesting

Brazilian farmers from six cities in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais, ...