Integração ou separação? Uma reflexão sobre a governança territorial no Prata a partir da construção da ponte da integração São Borja-Brasil/ Santo Tomé-Argentina

The São Borja-Brazil / Santo Tomé-Argentina border region has since the Jesuit-Guaranis missions (17th century) a relationship marked by processes of cultural, social, and economic changes. The due region has as limit the river Uruguay, body of water that was of great importance for the cultural communications, territorial disputes and speculative and geopolitical interests by the region. The territorial and strategic importance of the Prata basin has aroused European speculative interests in the region since the 17th and 18th century (urban and social consolidation of the Jesuit-Guarani reductions), 19th century (consolidation of the private, individualist and essentialist productive model, as well as the constitution Of national states), 20th century (construction of the integration bridge). During all these moments the extra-local influences are observed before the regional social and productive system, which overlapped their models of life before the primitive communities and recently over the traditional ones. In 1997, the São Borja-Brazil / Santo Tomé-Argentina Integration Bridge and the first Unified Border Center (CUF) were built in this region. Until then the transfer was via ferry and with less bureaucracies for the migration to the other side of the river. This research problematized how the socio-territorial governance took place during the process of construction of the integration bridge between these twin cities São Borja-Sao Tome, for which a sociohistorical analysis of the missionary region was carried out; Analysis of socio-spatial and cultural dynamics of the frontier region studied; National and international bibliographic review on border studies in the Prata basin; Reflections on territorial actors and their geographic scales of power; New jurisdictions on border issues; Analysis of the social narratives generated during the bridge construction period. After these reflections it is highlighted that during the process of construction of the bridge there was participation in the decision arenas of several multi-scale actors. The regional territorial composition now turns to the articulation of a territorial network that connects Belo Horizonte-São Paulo-Uruguaina-São Borja-Córdoba-Rosario-Assunción-Santiago, which sustains a flow of goods. In this perspective the bridge emerges as a form of state control that does not prioritize human and cultural flows.