A Questão da segurança na fronteira entre Tabatinga (Brasil) e Leticia (Colômbia)

Abstract

The bordering relations between Brazil and Colombia throughout the 20thcentury were considered divergent due to the oscillation and instability of the security in the frontier, which happens since the tempestuous process of border delimitation of Brazil-Colombia by the Treaty of Bogotá in 1907. On one hand, Colombia narrowed its relations with the United States of America (USA) by military agreements on the drug combat, leaving Brazil afraid of this influence, while on the other hand, Brazil sought to expand its territory and Colombia feared a possible Brazilian hegemony. Therefore, as well as the geographic and geopolitical point of view and the international relations, the bond between both countries became remote, resulting in a tardy and irregular cross-border cooperation. Based on this assumption, it sought to analyze the trimming in the border between the twin cities Tabatinga (Brazil) and Leticia (Colombia) to comprehend the territory dynamic in matter of the (un) safety caused by drug trafficking. The methodology is based on bibliographical review related to the proposed theme, secondary data in Brazilian and Colombian statistical sources: newspapers, official ways of access to both governments information analyzed and reinterpretation of the historical background of Tabatinga e Leticia, which allowed pointing the challenges on the process of regional integration around the security agenda which has been conducting both countries in a narrowing of their bilateral relation in the last years. Among them, we emphasize two of the main agreements of cooperation that were established between the governments of Brazil and Colombia and reflect directly on the safety of the twin cities Tabatinga and Leticia borderline.