Potreros of the Andes dispute

The Potreros of the Andes dispute[1] (Cuestión de los potreros de cordillera in Spanish) was a territorial and diplomatic conflict between Chile and Argentina in the 19th Century, in which an incident occurred in March 1845 involving the Chilean rancher Manuel Jirón from the Maule Province and Argentine authorities from the Mendoza Province in the area of the Andes.[2]

History

In the context of the tensions between the unitary and federal sides in River Plate politics,[3] the presence of exiles from this country in Chile, and the cutting of commercial traffic with Mendoza ordered on April 13, 1842, by the Chilean president Manuel Bulnes, and the anger of the Mendocino governor José Félix Aldao[4] (from the federal side of Juan Manuel de Rosas), a tense event occurs in March 1845, when the Chilean cattle rancher residing in Talca, Manuel Jirón, is approached by a gang of ten or twelve Argentine rustlers coming from Cuyo in his hacienda. They requested a payment of money in the name of the Governor's Office of Mendoza. They asked for payment for the cattle grazing that Jirón was doing in the potreros of El Yeso, Los Ángeles, Valenzuela and Montañés.

Jiron paid the amount when they threatened to take away his animals, which he later confirmed to the Chilean authorities, expecting compensation for the money. The incident was known as the "mountain potreros issue".[5][6][7][2][8][9][10][11][12][13]

The territory where this occurred is located south of the Diamante River in the mountainous area of Talca, so the territory was understood by Jiron[1] as part of Chilean jurisdiction.[14]

The Municipality of Talca was in charge of protecting the cattle ranchers in the area, and the investigation of the case showed that the aggressors came from San Rafael de Mendoza Fortress.[15]

The Government of Chile sent a note of protest to the Government of Argentina saying:

From the inquiry which by order of this Government has been made, it appears that the pastures are situated in Chilean territory, without any doubt having arisen on this point up to the present, both from the situation of the places, and from the immemorial possession of Chilean citizens, from the recognition of the bordering Indians, from history, tradition, and from whatever titles may be alleged in favor of the rights of sovereignty and property. Not only, therefore, has an illegal act of force and depredation been committed against Chilean citizens, but also an attack against the sovereignty of this Republic and an outrageous violation of its territory.

To which Argentina did not protest.[14]

On December 4, 1846, a technical commission was created in Buenos Aires, composed of Carmen José Domínguez and Lieutenant Nicolás Villanueva, which published on April 27, 1847, in which they argued the territories where the incident occurred as Argentine, although not specifying whether or not they belonged to the province of Cuyo, as they were south of the Diamante River:[14]

The Llaretas and Planchón mountain ranges, which are designated by the attached plan, are an extension of the previous ones, and the Valenzuela, Montañés, Yeso and Los Ángeles valleys, which are in the same situation as that of Tunuyán, cannot by any means be considered an integral part of Chilean territory[14]

— 27 April 1847, Technical Commission, Buenos Aires

The Argentine president, Juan Manuel de Rosas, sent officials to tax Talca ranchers in the area in question in 1847 and 1848.[14] By then he had already resolved to incorporate into his country the territory south of the Diamante River to the Río Negro, most of which he knew after his 1833 expeditions.[16][17]

After the 1881 treaty the boundary divided the disputed area with the areas of Valle Hermoso, Las Leñas and the eastern sector of Paso Potrerillos for Argentina, and the lands near Curicó of Potrero Grande, Potrero Chico, El Planchón, Teno lagoons, those of the Maule river basin, such as the Maule river basin, such as the lagoon and river of La Invernada, and the sector of El Colorado for Chile.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Toro, Gaspar (1878). La diplomacia chileno-argentina en la cuestión de límites (in Spanish). Santiago de Chile: Imp. de la lib. del Mercurio de E. Undurraga i ca.
  2. ^ a b Bermejo, Antonio (1879). La cuestión chilena y el arbitraje (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Imp. de la Nación.
  3. ^ Historia Argentina: Unitarios y federales (1826–1841). Written by José María Rosa. Published by Editorial Oriente, 1841
  4. ^ Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1889). El General Fray Félix Aldao Gobernador de Mendoza (1845) (in Spanish). Santiago de Chile. Retrieved April 5, 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ Bustos Díaz, Carlos (January 2001). "Chile y Argentina. A cien años del primer arbitraje británico" (PDF). Revista Actualidad Jurídica (in Spanish) (3). Retrieved 14 May 2025.
  6. ^ Lagos Carmona, Guillermo (1985). Historia de las fronteras de Chile - Los tratados de límites con Argentina (in Spanish). Andrés Bello.
  7. ^ "Discurso del Señor Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores Dr. D. Bernardo de Irigoyen" (PDF) (in Spanish). Imprenta de S. Ostwald. 1882. p. 17. Retrieved 14 May 2025. mismo que á los Potreros de Cordillera
  8. ^ Congreso Internacional Andrés Bello y el Derecho - realizado con motivo del bicentenario de su nacimiento (in Spanish). Editorial Jurídica de Chile. 1982.
  9. ^ Cuestión chileno-argentina: notas diplomáticas y otros escritos en defensa de los derechos de la República Argentina (in Spanish). Argentina. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. 1877. p. 95.
  10. ^ Lafont, Julio B. (1953). Anarquía. Tiranía. Organización (in Spanish). Editorial F. V. D.
  11. ^ Memoria (in Spanish). Chile. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. 1849.
  12. ^ Goyena, Pedro; Frías, Félix (1884). Folletos. Chile durante la legación, 1869–1874. Artículos sobre la cuestión chilena. Homenajes á la memoria de D. Félix Frías (in Spanish). C. Casavalle.
  13. ^ Cuestión de límites entre Chile y la República Argentina: Contestación del Señor Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile a la nota del Sr. Enviado Extraordinario y Ministro Plenipotenciario de la República Argentina, fecha 20 de septiembre de 1873 (in Spanish). Chile. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. 1874.
  14. ^ a b c d e f "POTREROS CORDILLERANOS AL INTERIOR DE TALCA: HISTORIA DE LA PRIMERA CONTROVERSIA TERRITORIAL ENTRE CHILE Y ARGENTINA". Corporación de Defensa de la Soberanía (in Spanish). November 12, 2006.
  15. ^ "THE BEGINNING OF THE CHILEAN-ARGENTINE CONTROVERSY FOR TERRITORIAL RIGHTS IN THE PATAGONIA: FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF O'HIGGINS UNTIL THE TREATY OF 1855–1856". Corporación de Defensa de la Soberanía (in Spanish). 12 April 2007. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  16. ^ Álvaro Barros (1975). Fronteras y territorios federales de las pampas del sur. Buenos Aires: Librería Hachette, pp. 20
  17. ^ La conquista de quince mil leguas: Estudio sobre la traslacion de la Frontera Sud de la Republica al Rio Negro, dedicado a los gefes y oficiales del Ejército Expedicionario. Pp. 346–348. Written by Estanislao Severo Zeballos. Published by Establecimiento Tipográfico a vapor de "La Prensa", 1878
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