Brazil-Paraguay Border Research Articles

Competency mapping of primary healthcare nurses on the Brazil-Paraguay border.

To map the competencies of Primary Health Care nurses in border regions of Brazil and Paraguay. Exploratory qualitative studyconducted between February and July 2020, with 64 nurses from six Brazilian municipalities bordering Paraguay. It was conducted in three stages: 1. Documentary study: analysis of legal documents to identify the nurse's competencies. 2. Application of instrument to the study population .3. Mapping of competencies, through the competencies expressed by nurses analyzed using the collective subject discourse technique. Twenty-eight general competencies were identified, categorized as assistance and management, and five specific competencies required to work in border regions: conducting a situational diagnosis of the border community; attending to foreign users with active and humanized listening; communicating appropriately with foreign users; identifying the epidemiological profile of the border; and, understanding the health policies of the neighboring country. The competencies required for the work from the participants' perspective were included in the mapping. The competence gap identified in the mapping refers to educational practices in communities. The study identified the necessary competencies for nurses to work in border regions, but pointed out gaps in the training and continuing education of these professionals.

Curvas epidêmicas e o perfil de pacientes hospitalizados pela COVID-19 em região de fronteira

Objective: to describe the epidemic curves and analyze the epidemiological profile of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in a triple border city. Method: descriptive-quantitative. The population consisted of COVID-19 cases that required hospitalization, analyzing variables such as: age, gender, race/color, city where they lived, occupation, pregnant woman, institutionalized patient and evolution. Descriptive statistical analysis and analysis of variance and chi-square tests were used. Results: four epidemic curves were identified in the studied period. Among hospitalized cases, males predominated (55%). Cure was the most frequent outcome in curves 1, 2 and 4, but with no statistical difference (p = 0.2916). Curve 3 showed a higher frequency of deaths (41.70%) in relation to cures (38.77%). The mean ages were significantly different between the curves, with curve 4 having the lowest mean age. Conclusion: it was concluded that the epidemic curves were influenced by different situations; unvaccinated population, easing of restrictive measures, reopening of the Brazil-Paraguay border, interruption of control actions, crowding of people and circulation of new variants of the disease. Through the epidemiological profile of hospitalized patients, it was concluded that being male, of mixed race/color, aged between 61 and 85 years, and being deprived of freedom were associated with hospitalization and the occurrence of death.

Introduction to the Special Section: Latin American Voices on Illegal and Marginally Legal Practices at Borders

I present here selected articles that originated from the Simposio de antropologia “entre lo legal y lo illegal” in Monterrey, Mexico, November 2019. These articles focus on Latin American borders: the U.S.-Mexico border, the Brazil-Paraguay border, and the Argentina-Bolivia border. These Latin American scholars resist the top-down agenda of seeing threat in everything that has been illegalized, because as they show, many smuggled goods are normalized and present few risks and many benefits to civilians. Yet at the same time, they draw attention to the terrible levels of criminal and state violence that do occur around intensely illegalized commodities. They do not offer a solution, but they do offer insights for progress on this crucial question.

Right to health, autonomy, and access to prenatal services.

The concept of the right to health includes decent conditions of work, housing, and leisure. It can be assessed through the evaluation of access to health services and programs. The creation of the Brazilian Unified Health System expanded access to healthcare for the entire Brazilian population. This study aimed to understand the use of the Brazilian Unified Health System by pregnant women who live on the Brazil-Paraguay border, whose residents are known as Braziguayans. We conducted 16 semi-structured interviews with users of prenatal services at Unified Health System units located at the border of the municipalities of Ponta Porã and Pedro Juan Caballero. The Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul approved of this research. All participants were provided with project information and signed an informed consent form. Through content analysis of the interviews, "right to health" and "autonomy, pathways, and access" were two recurrent themes that have arisen. These suggested that Braziguayan women live in conditions of social vulnerability. They do not fully experience the right to healthcare, despite sufficient knowledge about the Brazilian and Paraguayan healthcare systems from which to choose prenatal care. The interviewees acknowledged that Unified Health System use is a right of Brazilian citizens and considered its units to be safe environments. These women also understand the structuring of Unified Health System and the mechanisms of accessing healthcare programs. We can conclude that, despite widely known difficulties, Unified Health System represents, for Braziguayan women, potential access to reliable health services for adequate prenatal and childbirth assistance.

Cooperação Militar contra o Crime Organizado: Brasil e Paraguai no combate ao narcotráfico (1988 – 2017)

A ascensão do crime organizado transnacional ao patamar de ameaça à segurança internacional trouxe mudanças significativas às estratégias de combate ao problema pelos Estados. Seu caráter difuso, que vai além das fronteiras estatais, exige a concatenação de esforços estatais para seu enfrentamento, sobpena de restar infrutífera qualquer política nesse sentido. O Brasil e o Paraguai ocupam papel de destaque no desenvolvimento de atividades ilícitas transnacionais no continente sul-americano, existindo entre eles uma dinâmica de complementariedade entre oferta e demanda de produtos e serviços ilegais. A fronteira entre ambos os países corresponde à rota mais tradicional do narcotráfico na América do Sul, razão pela qual Brasil e Paraguai têm reunido esforços para o enfrentamento da questão, inclusive militarmente. O presente artigo busca analisar como se desenvolve a cooperação militar entre o Brasil e o Paraguai para o combate aotráfico de drogas na fronteira entre ambos os países. Para tanto, faz-se um resgate conceitual do crime organizado transnacional e sua caracterização na fronteira Brasil-Paraguai. Em seguida, observam-se as iniciativas empreendidas na região de fronteira, em termos de cooperação militar, no combate ao narcotráfico.

Molecular characterization of the invasive aquatic macrophyte Hydrilla verticillata (Hydrocharitaceae) in Brazil.

Invasive populations of macrophytes are widely distributed and have been successfully introduced and established in freshwater habitats. Hydrilla verticillata was first recorded in 2005 in the Upper Paraná River floodplain and in 2007 at the Itaipu Reservoir (Brazil-Paraguay border, ca. 300 km downstream from its first record). However, its genetic variability within different sites in South America is unknown. We used nucleotide sequences corresponding to the trnL-trnF fragment cpDNA to genetically characterize populations of H. verticillata in different ecosystems of the Upper Paraná River basin. The results indicated an absence of genetic differentiation within and between populations of the basin, and even individuals collected 600 km apart belonged to the same haplotype. Moreover, H. verticillata populations of the Upper Paraná River basin also matched the dioecious biotype haplotype of the Southern United States and Asia. The identification of this single haplotype suggests that one founder genotype was introduced and established successfully in the Upper Paraná River basin, then, as a consequence of vegetative reproduction and the dispersal of propagules, spread to different habitats. However, firm conclusions about this inference can only be obtained with markers of biparental inheritance.

MCrack-Dam: the scale-up of a method to assess cracks on concrete dams by image processing. The case study of Itaipu Dam, at the Brazil–Paraguay border

Inspection and maintenance of civil infrastructures require structural assessment, usually performed based on the monitoring of critical sections. For concrete structures, the identification and characterization of the crack patterns is an important task to a rigorous evaluation of the structural performance. In the case of concrete dams, the timely detection and correction of structural problems can avoid major accidents. Despite the significance of crack monitoring and the recent innovations using image processing, the inspection of dams is usually simply based on visual inspections. This results in sketching crack patterns and also includes hand-held measurements, using crack width rulers and measuring tape. Thus, the development of automatic methods based on image processing to assess cracks in concrete dams has significant advantages. In this scope, most of the methods were applied in the laboratorial environment, and a gap to scale-up them to onsite assessment is clearly identified. In this paper, a method named MCrack-Dam, resulting from the scale-up of the method MCrack, previously developed and validated in controlled laboratorial conditions, is presented. The method is based on image processing and designed to automatically monitoring cracks in concrete dams. The MCrack-Dam relies on a predefined systematic acquisition of images: pre-processing those images for ortho-rectification; processing of the latter to identify and model cracks; and post-processing procedure to characterize the crack key parameters. The method was applied to a predefined region of the Itaipu Dam, at Brazil–Paraguay border. The results validate the ability of MCrack-Dam for performing a detailed characterization of cracks in concrete dams, not comparable to the traditional methods currently used. In addition, MCrack-Dam successfully works on surfaces with distinct features (‘noise’ for crack detection) such as drippings, sketched drawings, and smooth and rough textures, unlike other image processing methods when applied on ‘noise’ surfaces. Finally, the most relevant conclusions, and guidelines for the optimization of the exhaustive survey of the entire surface of the dam, are presented.

Sense of community among Muslims in the Brazil–Paraguay border: narratives of belonging and generational differences

ABSTRACTThe so-called ‘Triple Frontier’—the border between Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina—is the ‘host society’ of an important Muslim community, composed mainly of Lebanese immigrants and their descendants born in Brazil and Paraguay. In less than two decades, Shi’i and Sunni Arab Muslims created mosques, religious centres, a cemetery, and three schools. Mosques, schools, and religious centres are spaces for the production of a sense of community. The institutional discourse of these entities emphasises the connection between religion and community origin, considering Islam as part of ‘Arab culture’. Taking generational differences into account, this article aims to analyse the narratives of plural identity expressed in the meanings attributed to the immigrants’ self-identification as Muslims. Based on fieldwork in the South American border area, this work aims to shed light on the way in which immigrants and their descendants reinterpret their religious belonging, informed by the new experience of living in multi-religious societies.

Moralizing Commerce on the Frontier

Beginning in the late nineteenth century a promising ranching sector developed on the Mato Grosso frontier with Paraguay. The most lucrative markets for cattle products were in neighboring Paraguay, Uruguay, and in the southeast of Brazil. For the most part markets were distant from the region of production, while fiscal revenues were always limited, hence the state attempted to impose its regulations and taxes as it could. Residents found their incomes were constrained at the best of times, and any “outside” impositions were simply obstacles to the prosperity of their communities and businesses. The result was that like similar regions across the globe cattle and cattle product smuggling became normal. The profits were significant enough that even local government officials were involved. The result was a long-running “battle” between the state and local producers to tap the potential promised by ranching that simultaneously promoted and inhibited the development of the region. This article explores these contradictory aspects of ranching settlement along the Brazil-Paraguay border.

Death by Water: The Rise and Fall of Los Saltos del Guairá

Los Saltos del Guaira, known in English as the Guayra Falls, and in Portuguese as Sete Quedas (Seven Falls), were once the most powerful waterfalls on earth, regarded by those who saw them as “worthy of description by Homer and Virgil.” Located on the Parana on the Brazil-Paraguay border and endowed over time with near-legendary status, the spectacular falls vanished in October 1982, submerged by rising river levels extending behind the vast reservoir created by the Itaipu Dam, a vast hydroelectric project developed by Brazil and Paraguay throughout the 1970s. Itaipu has been well documented, whereas the importance of los Saltos del Guaira in the literature and history of Latin America remains scantly documented outside of Paraguay and Brazil, thereby concealing one of the most drastic environmental transformations brought about by technological intervention. By examining the rich history of the falls as recorded by Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century, travellers and explorers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and politicians and engineers in the twentieth century, this article explores in detail the evolving place of los Saltos del Guaira in the literature and politics of the environment of Latin America and the circumstances leading to their final disappearance in 1982.

Advertisement and aggressive calls of Pithecopus azureus (Anura: Phyllomedusidae) from the border of Brazil and Paraguay

The categories of calls previously described for the closely related species Pithecopus azureus and P. hypochondrialis are reassessed. In addition, the advertisement and aggressive calls of P. azureus from Brazil-Paraguay border in southwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul in western Brazil are redescribed. Intraspecific comparisons of call traits are made for populations of P. azureus from Argentina and Bolivia, and the vocalization of P. azureus is also compared with that of the closely related species of the P. hypochondrialis Group (subclade of lowland species). Given the similarities among the advertisement calls of P. azureus, P. hypochondrialis, and P. nordestinus, it seems that acoustic traits, at least solely, should not be employed as reliable diagnostic characters among these species

Itaipu's Forgotten History: The 1965 Brazil–Paraguay Border Crisis and the New Geopolitics of the Southern Cone

AbstractThis article chronicles the fifteen-month border conflict between the military regimes of Brazil and Paraguay that occurred between March of 1965 and June of 1966 – a stand-off that paved the way for the Itaipu project that would become the largest dam in the world. In the context of the 1960s Cold War, both governments saw a large-scale dam on the Paraná River as a means to catalyse industrialisation and strengthen the political legitimacy of their respective authoritarian regimes. Yet the border crisis was not a stand-off between equal powers. Brazil was the much stronger force, and, with the backing of the United States, the Brazilian dictatorship brought Paraguay firmly under its sphere of influence while also marginalising neighbouring Argentina. The border question at Guaíra served as a springboard for Brazil's rising power, and subsequently transformed the geopolitical landscape of the Southern Cone.

The context of leprosy in Brazil-Paraguay border.

In Brazil, leprosy is endemic in three regions: the North, Northeast, and Mid-West. Counties with contiguous binational urban areas are characterized by a constant flow of people, goods, and services, which facilitates the transmission of diseases and influences the epidemiological profile of leprosy. The purpose of this study was to examine territorial differences in relation to the incidence of leprosy, focusing on border counties with contiguous binational urban areas or otherwise. Each county was taken as an information unit for leprosy cases reported during 2001-2011, based on data from original notification records of the state's Department of Health. In counties with contiguous binational urban areas detection rates showed tendency to increase, Virchowian (lepromatous) disease and disability grade II predominated when compared with Groups II and III: 0.64 and 0.54/100,000 inhabitants for Virchowian disease and 0.14 and 0.27/100,000 inhabitants for disability grade II respectively, and were associated with higher transmission rates. The findings demonstrate the role of border areas in maintaining the endemicity of leprosy.

Pouzolzia saxophila sp. nov. (Urticaceae tribe Boehmerieae) from Bahia, Brazil

The paper supplements a taxonomic revision of the New World species of Pouzolzia by Wilmot‐Dear and Friis in 1996 and a supplement in 2011 with an additional new species. Here another new species of Pouzolzia, P. saxophila Friis, Wilmot‐Dear & A. K. Monro, is described from a restricted area of xerophytic scrub vegetation on rocky outcrops in the Boa Nova National Park, Bahia, Brazil. The new species is somewhat similar to P. pringlei, a Mexican endemic, and to P. amambaiensis from the Brazil–Paraguay border, but also to the widespread Asiatic P. zeylanica. However, the similarities with these species are probably due to adaptation to similar dry habitats on rocky outcrops.

EVIDENCE OF MAIZE (ZEAMAYS L.) EXPLOITATION AROUND AN ANCIENT CROSSROAD LINKING DIFFERENT ABORIGINAL AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS

A historic net of pathways referred to as Peabiru was constructed connecting the southern of Brazil with the Peruvian Andes. The path disappeared during the Colombian era but was an important testimony of the Brazilian preColombian epoch. To understand the human migrations during the preColombian around Peabiru we examined the genetic relationship of modern landraces and archaeological maize considering the ADH2 gene.Peabiru sequences were grouped with archaeological Andine specimens suggesting an early exploitation of maize around this historic path, involving preColombian Andian people and Guarany natives, and endorsing the debate regarding the presence preColombian human populations nearby the transition area around BrazilParaguay border.

HISTÓRIAS TERRITORIAIS: A PRIVATIZAÇÃO DAS TERRAS KAIOWA COMO ESTRATÉGIA PARA A GUARNIÇÃO DA FRONTEIRA BRASILEIRA E OUTRAS HISTÓRIAS

Entre os Kaiowa, o esboroamento de vínculos sociais, de práticas políticas, rituais e econômicas, gerador de miséria e violência, associa-se às perdas territoriais. Ponto de partida para uma pesquisa calcada na análise de histórias pessoais e familiares, onde o retrospecto de relações de parentesco, composições políticas, trocas rituais, deslocamentos e relações com não índios expôs consistentes histórias territoriais. Nelas, frágeis cronologias contrastam com etnografia e cartografia fartas. Esta, calcada na malha fluvial, traz chaves para ultrapassar a invisibilidade kaiowa ainda cultivada por historiadores e memorialistas. Neste contexto, o detalhamento da presença kaiowa na faixa de fronteira Brasil-Paraguai explicita o papel do Império/Estado brasileiro como gerador dos conflitos fundiários contemporâneos, na medida em que promoveu e apoiou projetos de colonização, forneceu títulos de propriedade - à revelia da presença indígena e da legislação vigente -, favoreceu a criação de oligarquias político/fundiárias, pontos de partida para as perdas territoriais kaiowa. Contudo, o entrelaçamento das narrativas indígenas e não indígenas não propõe uma etno-história clássica, pois se as narrativas são complementares em seus conteúdos, são diversas quanto ao formato e as noções que abarcam.

The immediate and long‐term effects of water drawdown on macrophyte assemblages in a large subtropical reservoir

Summary1. Disturbances play a central role in determining the spatial and temporal dynamics of many plant communities. In our study of macrophyte assemblages at 150 sites in five arms of a large subtropical reservoir (Itaipu Reservoir, Brazil–Paraguay border), we used co‐occurrence null models and spatiotemporal analyses to describe the patterns in the assemblages during a historically large water drawdown in 2000, in comparison with the previous year (1999) and subsequent years (2001–07). A C‐Score co‐occurrence index tested the null hypothesis of random structure during the drawdown period. A detrended correspondence analysis and multiresponse permutation procedure were used to verify whether species composition differed before, during and after the disturbance.2. In contrast to our expectations, the null models showed that the macrophyte assemblages were spatially structured during the drawdown (2000), although species composition was significantly different from the previous year (1999) and also changed in the following years (2001–07). Significant species co‐occurrence patterns were generated by the drawdown disturbance, with species extinctions and colonisation by new species from propagules and seed bank germination.3. The randomness we expected in 2000 actually occurred in 2001, probably because the reestablishment of normal water level enabled both submersed and free‐floating species to recolonise the shore that emergent species had inhabited since the drawdown. Biotic interactions appeared to increase during the years after the disturbance and the habitat preferences of the aquatic macrophytes were re‐established, resulting in higher similarities in aquatic macrophyte species composition in the years after the drawdown.

Ascent of neotropical migratory fish in the Itaipu Reservoir fish pass

AbstractThe Piracema Canal is a complex 10‐km fish pass system that climbs 120 m to connect the Paraná River to the Itaipu Reservoir along the Brazil–Paraguay border. The canal was constructed to allow migratory fishes to reach suitable habitats for reproduction and feeding in tributaries upstream from the reservoir. The Piracema Canal attracted 17 of the 19 long‐distance migratory species that have been recorded in the Paraná River Basin and Paraguay–Paraná Basin. However, the incidence of migratory fish decreased from downstream to upstream, with the pattern of decrease depending on species. Overall, 0.5% of the migratory fish that entered the Piracema Canal and segment 1, eventually were able to reach segment 5 and potentially Itaipu Reservoir. Ascension rate was examined relative to various physical attributes of canal segments; maximum water velocity emerged as the most influential variable affecting fish passage. Water velocity may be manipulated by controlling water discharge, and by re‐engineering critical sections of the canal. Because the Itaipu Reservoir flooded a set of falls that separated two distinct biogeographical regions, facilitating fish movements through the Piracema Canal into the Itaipu Reservoir presents a management dilemma that requires deliberation in the context of the fish assemblages rather than on selected migratory species. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Health consultations provided by the public Unified Health System to Brazilians living on the Brazil-Paraguay border

To identify and analyze the characteristics of consultations provided by the Unified Health System (SUS) to Brazilians living abroad in the cities of Ponta Porã, Coronel Sapucaia, Paranhos, and Sete Quedas, located on the border of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraguay. METHODS. Data were collected during a 30-day period using a form filled out for each consultation provided. All the SUS facilities in the four cities were studied (14 primary family health care units, four primary health care units, five hospitals and four laboratories). Semi-structured interviews were also performed with key informants (city health secretaries, health care unit managers, and city health council representatives). The highest demand from Brazilians living abroad was related to primary health care services: 11.9% of the primary family health care consultations in Coronel Sapucaia, 1.1% in Sete Quedas, 3.5% in Paranhos, and 3.5% in Ponta Porã. In primary health care units, the percent of consultations to non-resident Brazilian citizens was 21.1%, 43.8%, 14.7%, and 2.3%, respectively. The interviews supported the perception that a major number of Brazilians living abroad seek health care in public services of Brazilian border cities. Despite the considerable number of Brazilians living abroad who seek health care provided by SUS in Brazil, this demand is not taken into consideration in the planning of services and may have an impact on the quality of the health care provided.

Registration of Arblick and Ecoturf Rhizoma Peanut Germplasms for Ornamental or Forage Use

Arblick (Reg. No. GP‐128; PI 658528) and Ecoturf (Reg. No. GP‐129; PI 658529) are rhizoma peanut (RP) (Arachis glabrata Benth.) germplasms released by the Univ. of Florida in 2008. These plant introductions were identified as lower growing “ground cover” type plants. These lines are being released as germplasm to document the dual purpose ornamental and forage characteristics of the lines. Arblick was collected near the town of Bela Vista, Brazil, located on the border of Brazil and Paraguay. It has green group leaves (RHS 137B), with an orange group standard petal (RHS 24A and a yellow orange group wing petal (RHS 14B). Arblick generally is somewhat slower to establish than other forage type cultivars, has limited forage potential, and has not been widely planted. Ecoturf was collected along the Brazil–Paraguay border on the same collection expedition as Arblick, not far from where Arblick was collected. Flower color of Ecoturf is similar to Arblick, but it has yellow green group leaves (RHS 144A). Arblick and Ecoturf are lower growing types that flower profusely during the growing season. Ecoturf has gained acceptance by the commercial landscape industry for use as an ornamental ground cover. These germplasms will benefit specialty users of “ornamental” types of RP but also because of their dual‐use potential will diversify the RP plantings to avoid the near monoculture of ‘Florigraze’