somanlu jul dez 2006.pmd - Eventos - Ufam

“Soldiers” and citizens in the rainforest: Brazilian rubber tappers...
ral crude rubber would be needed for use with synthetic rubber in those articles
requiring natural rubber, such as truck tires, in which 30% to 65% of natural crude
rubber must be used with synthetic rubber. U.S. officials leaned on Latin American
nations, especially Brazil, to fill this gap. 11
Since Allied officials recognized that the price of rubber traded in an open
market would skyrocket in response to both war and consumer demands,
international arrangements were sought to establish a cooperative system for the
control of rubber consumption and the intensification of rubber production in all
countries in the Western Hemisphere. The State Department, in conjunction with the
U.S. governmental agency Rubber Reserve Company (later Rubber Development
Corporation) negotiated agreements with all rubber producing countries in Latin
America for sale to the United States of their exportable surpluses of crude rubber
and rubber manufactured goods (and the limitation of local consumption) for a
term of years at a fixed price. Between March and October 1942, agreements were
signed with all sixteen producing countries in Latin America. Brazil, the largest rubber
producer, signed the first agreement on March 3, 1942.
The agreement between the United States and Brazil provided for the sale of
all exportable surplus of crude rubber and rubber manufactured goods until
December 31, 1946. It called for the establishment of an agency of the Brazilian
Government to act as the sole buyer of rubber in Brazil (the Banco de Crédito da
Borracha would serve this role). The initial price was fixed at thirty-nine cents per
pound for the highest grade of rubber (washed and dried hevea brasiliensis), which
would apply to purchases for consumption within Brazil as well as sales to the
United States. The fixed price of rubber also aimed to guarantee tappers and bosses
a significant return to ensure ample wartime production; although U.S. government
officials concluded that tappers could not be paid too high a price for their rubber,
lest they desist from working once they saved up a nest egg (or paid off outstanding
debts). To be sure, American and Brazilian officials wrangled over the official price,
and a combination of steep inflation and distress with low rubber output precipitated
various wartime readjustments. 12
United States and Brazilian officials recognized that a fixed price alone
would not guarantee rubber supply. One of the most serious limitations on
increasing output was the shortage of labor in the Amazon which government
officials believed could only be met by importing workers to the region. In
44 Somanlu, ano 6, n. 2, jul./dez. 2006