THE AMAZON AS A LOW-COST ARENA IN THE COLD WAR'S GAME OF POWER? THE CASE OF THE AMAZONIAN GREAT LAKES PROJECT (1964-1968)

The article examines an underexplored episode of the Brazilian history in the context of the Cold War: the role of the Hudson Institute in South America and the proposal to create a large lacustrine system in the Amazon domains. From the analysis of official documents and literary registers, some of them little-known from the public, we attempted to identify the existence of a relationship between the aforementioned project and the Cold War systemic agenda and, also, the role of Brazil in this paradigmatic moment of the contemporary history. Evidences did not allow us to point out a clear connection between the Amazon Great Lakes Project and the dynamics of the United States-Soviet Union political disputes, even though they have shown that such an enterprise, if carried out, could make the Hylea a low-cost arena for the achievement of U.S. interests in the Cold War's game of power.