A Questão do Acre: internacionalização dos interesses sobre a contenda acreana

Abstract

The Acrean Question, which at first seemed a simple bilateral disagreement between Brazil and Bolivia, can nevertheless be considered a conflict positioned at the heart of a much more multifaceted arena, contributing for the establishment of the new balance of power and interests in South America. In such context, Bolivia was in clear detrimental position, territorially threatened by Brazil in Acre, by Chile in the Pacific, by Peru in Titicaca and by Argentina in the Atacama. In order to guarantee its very existence, the Andean country called on the granting of part of its legal territory to a mainly American possessed company, the Bolivian Syndicate, willing to achieve political support from the United States of America for the territorial disputes it faced. Such pursuit of American support was not accidental; it rather was a project carefully orchestrated by Bolivians and Americans, aiming on collaborating with the imperialist projects of USA and guaranteeing the territorial security of Bolivia. With the likely setting of a mainly American company in the region, Brazil and other South American States saw their national sovereignty – as well as their economical interests – threatened by the American imperialist expansion on course throughout the continent. This, surrounded by this complex political game, diplomatic clashes arose among the South American and European main players, molding the political and economic future of the South American continent in the closing stages of the XIX century and beginning of the XX century.