Western Hemisphere 155
MID#1588
Dispute Number: 1588
Date(s): December 11, 1854 to April 27, 1855
Participants: 140 Brazil/150 Paraguay
Outcome (and Settlement): Compromise (Negotiated)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: Brazil dispatched a naval fleet into Paraguayan waters to coerce Paraguay
into reparations for the August 12, 1853, insult of expelling their chargé d’affaires,
Pereira Leal. The move had two benefits. First, it was a show of force that demon-
strated Brazilian might on ultimately a minor matter of diplomatic intrigue. Second,
it was a coercive measure aimed at striking at the heart of the Paraguayan bargaining
advantage, which was control of the rivers. Brazil had sought to revise the terms of
navigation for some time.
Conflict was averted when Ferreira de Oliveira, commander of the Brazilian fleet
in Paraguayan waters, left his fleet to negotiate directly in Asuncion. The crisis was
ultimately resolved on March 21, 1855, with a 21-gun salute to the Brazilian flag by
Paraguayan forces. A negotiated agreement ultimately followed on April 27, 1855.
Regardless of the 21-gun salute, the formalities and concessions on naviga-
tion issues, Paraguay had gotten the better of the deal. The treaty had successfully
intimidated Ferreira de Oliveira into a quid pro quo policy, incrementally exchanging
navigation concessions to Brazil for a division of the boundary issue increasingly
favorable to Paraguay. Accordingly, the Brazilian government was not happy with the
terms of the treaty and refused to ratify it when Ferriera de Oliveira returned to Rio de
Janeiro. A letter to the Paraguayan government on July 8, 1855, informed Asuncion
that Brazil understood that a clause (Article III) in an 1850 alliance which provided
free navigation was the policy understood by Brazil.
Coding changes: Start Date changed from January 1855. End Date changed from
March 21, 1855.
MID#2236
Dispute Number: 2236
Date(s): August 10, 1856 to February 12, 1858
Participants: 150 Paraguay/140 Brazil
Outcome (and Settlement): Yield by side A (Negotiated)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: Paraguay’s Lopez was unhappy with the terms of the previous agreement
with Brazil and favored rejecting it. Shortly after the conference was concluded on
April 6, 1856, Paraguay commenced coercive measures aimed at bringing Brazil back
to the negotiating table. On July 15, 1856, Lopez decreed that any foreign merchant
ship must have a Paraguayan captain. Another decree on August 10, 1856, imposed
dues on foreign ships that, in essence, was a direct violation of the April 6 treaty.
Brazil interpreted these decrees as a signal that Paraguay would interpret any Brazilian
vessel and any cargo it contained as contraband. A formal protest came on January 26,
1857, by way of a letter from the Brazilian government.