TRANSMISSION OF TREATY SERIES NO. 51 (1946) EXCHANGE OF NOTES BETWEEN HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE GOVERNMENT OF BRAZIL.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000400360003-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: January 24, 1947
• Content Type: MISC

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000400360003-8
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SECRET
Brazil-Guyana Border
155. Prospectors and diamond smugglers tradi-
tionally have moved quite freely across portions
of the Brazil-Guyana border, where occasionally
there are illegal border jumpers?such as the fugi-
tives who fled from the abortive Rupununi up-
rising in Guyana to safety in Brazil. Apart from
relatively minor traffic, however, there is probably
little illegal surface movement between the two
countries, for transport facilities are too meager
to sustain major flows of contraband. Small quan-
tities of high value goods, however, are probably
smuggled across the border by air.
156. The border is composed of two main seg-
IL ments. One segment runs essentially east to west,
between the headwaters of the Courantyne and
Takatu rivers. The other segment extends south
to north, down the Takatu and up its tributary, the Ireng, to the Pakaraima
Mountains. The first segment lies in a completely isolated forest region, almost
totally uninhabited and with no transportation facilities whatsoever. The heads
of launch navigation for streams flowing southward from the frontier to the
Amazon lie hundreds of miles away from the border in most cases. The headwaters
of the Essequibo, New River, and Courantyne provide difficult approaches for
small canoes to the Guyana side of the border. There are no roads, airfields, or
sizable villages.
157. By comparison, the zone along the part of the border formed by the
Takatu and Ireng rivers is fairly well settled. This section of the boundary
runs mostly through savanna. On the Guyana side is the cattle-ranching Rupununi
district which includes the town of Lethem and dozens of small Amerindian
villages, all connected by a network of trails, tracks, and a few jeepable roads.
On the Brazilian side, where cattle raising is also important, there are numerous
small settlements. Boa Vista on the Rio Branco, about 45 miles from the border,
is by far the largest place in the entire frontier zone; it has a population of
more than 25,000. The Rio Branco is navigable to launches for a short distance
upstream from Boa Vista. A road connects Boa Vista with the town of Caracarai
and serves as a bypass to a bad stretch of rapids on the river. Many trails radiate
from Boa Vista, providing access to and across the border and interconnecting
with the road and trail network of the Rupununi district.
158. In addition to cattle ranching, the border zone is noted for the diamonds
that are found in the sands and gravels of its rivers and creeks. The frontier
is said to be so "wide open" that prospectors work either side of the Ireng with
little regard for official approval or permission. Brazilian "pirate" buyers make
the rounds of diamond workings of the Guyana side of the border, purchasing
stones and then smuggling them back into Brazil, sometimes along special trails
SECRET 45
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000400360003-8
Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved forRelease2012/09/13 : CIA-RDP08C01297R000400360063-8
10 lraL -
London,
F ROA
Despatch No. 307
Subject: rrensmission of P,o*tr SeriesNO. (1946)
Beehange of Naos between His NejeSte*
Government in the United Kingdom and the
Government of Brazil.
FOR THE ORM4TION_OF 74E TREATY,.TION
OF EA HW PUVLIOATION
The Honorable,
The Secrete
Watt
1
(5'1 ,i40141444"0:
25X1
have the honor to tr*Osmit ter
Treaty Series No. 51 (1946)Exchange
Mejestrs Government in the United 'Kingdom
ment of Brazil, signed at Rio de Janeiro,
The information required by the Department's.t'itructto
of January 27, 1941 (Diplomatic Serial No. 1329) is set out
below
(1) pountrx,tttle,,and de
of Metes
he United
signed at Rio
No mention or i
(3) DOe 0
No mention r
(4) Pate cf,eutry into. effect:
March 15, 1940.
ication.
iratification;
cation.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000400360003-8
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000400360003-8
London, Despatch No,
)
? 2 ?
1941
re:Tided t
Not so.
(4) Notice re
(8)
?
oat
At"
?
Approves the work of the Ci
their. Genwswil
igned on 22nd Aprit 1926
London on lath March, 19,13-?
Enclosure :
Five copies of Treaty rie No, 51 (1946)
Notes between His Majesty* a GoVerment in the
Kingdom and the Government of Erssil?
ABTothi
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000400360003-8