Expansion strategies and capitalist development on the frontier of Pará: an analysisof the 1966 “Operation Amazon”

Abstract

Between1966 and 1979, in an atmosphere of conflict, the frontier in thestate of Paráwas opened, through majoragricultural and developmental projects that were benefited by the institutionalization of “Operation Amazon”. The centralobjective of the article isto investigate the dynamics of the penetration, occupation and advance of capital in and around the territory of the frontiersinPará, the basis of which, as from the 1960s, was “Operation Amazon”. Thischoice of theme was madepossible in that there wasanapparent need to demonstrate the dynamics of expanding the frontier on capitalist bases. From a methodological viewpoint, the research was developed using a deductive approach, sinceit seeks to understand the historical foundations of the dynamics thatestablished and expanded the frontier in Pará on capitalist bases; and, also, the inductive method,because it was considered essential to understand the particular, yetpredominant,role of “Operation Amazon” within the context of capital development. In addition, the present work will make use of exploratory analysis and seek as much information as possible using the qualitative research technique.“Operation Amazon” demonstrated that the frontier is also a social relation of production, precisely because the structure of this society under construction -in a social, cultural and, particularly, economic perspective -across the territory in which it is expanding, despite suffering some resistance, is dominated by the logic of capital accumulation, as seen in the contemporary Brazilian Amazon.