The conflicts of local elites with the Argentine State in the Upper Paraná: the conflict over the yerbales between Domingo Barthe´s company and the governor Juan José Lanusse (1896-1905)

Abstract

In 1880 the Argentine State ruled by President Julio Argentino Roca belonging to the national autonomist party (PAN) was created by Decree the national territory of Misiones after segregation of the province of Corrientes. Economic tax policies promoted by his supporters soon found a bitter resistance from the local “elite” that brought together his followers behind the Mitrista Liberal Party from which expressed opposition to the mandates and openly disputed the orientation of tax policy. The”Central elites” raised a dilemma in the direction of the national policy with the slogan “to govern is to populate”. The premise involved that the State should stimulate immigration with greater emphasis and to ensure also the success of such enterprises although they be confront directly with the economic interests of the “local elites” of the interior of the country. This paper will analyze the trajectory of the businessman Domingo Barthe as a representative of the local elite of theNational Territory of Misiones from successful entrepreneurship in Upper Paraná that led him to a showdown with the tax policies of the Governor Juan José Lanusse. The conflict has generated a long lawsuit that challenged immigration policy as well as the awarding of concessions of the wild Yerba Mate and revealed as background the networks of political, economic and legal relations of the parties involved.