CROSS-BORDER INTERACTION NETWORKS IN BORDER ZONES THE BRAZILIAN-PARAGUAYIAN FORMED BY GUAÍRA (PARANÁ) AND SALTO DEL GUAIRÁ (CANINDEYU DEPARTMENT)

Abstract

Guaíra (Paraná) and Salto Del Guairá (Canindeyu) form a set of peer cities in the Brazilian-Paraguayan border zone, situated on the banks of the Paraná River, also called the Itaipu Binational Hydroelectric Dam. Until the early 1980s these small towns had weak cross-border interactions between them, but from the last two decades of the twentieth century, profound changes in the region would make the networks of interactions denser and more everyday. This article aims to analyze the factors responsible for the emergence of networks of daily cross-border interactions between Guaíra and Salto Del Guairá and to identify the typology of such networks. The methodology consisted of theoretical readings and fieldwork carried out in the cities of Guaíra and Salto Del Guairá. The article was organized in two parts: the first presents a geo-historical retrospective that allows us to understand the factors that contributed to the emergence of daily cross-border networks; The second highlights the typology of the networks and the factors that determined them. Finally, some considerations allow us to infer that infrastructural works in the region, such as the construction of Itaipu's water reservoir and the construction of the Ayrton Sena National Bridge linking Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul, were partly responsible for the daily life of the infrastructure. cross-border interactions, but their density and duration depend fundamentally on exchange rate differentials and socio-spatial asymmetries and service specializations on either side of the border between Brazil and Paraguay.