Multiculturalism in the triple frontier (ARGENTINA, BRAZIL AND PARAGUAY)
The triple border is an area of intersection between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, their existence is limited to three cities belonging respectively to the three countries: Puerto Iguazu, Foz do Iguaçu and Ciudad del Este and transits and streams and bridges that allow border crossings. In that area it is possible visiting the 3 border point of Puerto Iguazu. This research aimed to address the dual character space on your geographic location and multicultural context, being the triple border area with significant characteristics and attributes, where social actors: locals, migrants, tourists, merchants, built this dynamic and plural space.
Argentina is one of the countries that form the so-called “Triple Border”, shared with Brazil and Paraguay, it constitutes a complex and wide range of customs and traditions. At the same time these cultures come together with other ethnic groups in this region, including: Chinese, Arabic, Korean, descendants of Italians, Germans and peoples. This mix of cultures in the border area is susceptible to analysis from the point of view geo-social because we are referring to three different countries and different ethnic groups coexist together, with different histories that are integrated at this point in its borders, allowing the coexistence of people and totally heterogeneous groups through respect, tolerance and acceptance. The intersection at the confluence of the three countries (Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay) is a space that exists in the imagination of the notes and that goes beyond political-administrative limits of the borders of the three countries, where they participate as undisputed actors.
The three adjacent urban areas that make up the border area within the framework of the triple border, have mixed features. The Brazilian city of Foz do Iguazu, a town of sustained growth among the three cities is notable for its tourist facilities, hotels, shopping centers and recreational complexes. The city of Foz de Iguazu belongs to the state of Parana, and is divided into 12 regions gather together 284 neighborhoods where the current population of 301 409 inhabitants is distributed. The origins of Foz date back to 1888, when he founded there the military colony of Iguazu, hitherto only existed a population of 324 people, most Paraguayans, Argentines, Spanish and English, who were engaged in the extraction of yerba matt wood. In 1910 the military colony becomes a district of the municipality of Guarapuava and only in 1914 the city of Foz do Iguazu is created from the 70s and 80s, experienced a remarkable growth and development as a result of the construction and inauguration Itaipu dam.
Ciudad del Este is a new city, dating back to 1957 when it was founded under the name of Puerto Flor de Lis. He was part of a planned march to the east of the government of dictator Alfredo Stroessner. His name later changed to Puerto President Stoessner, to finally become, in 1989, in Ciudad del Este. With 170,000 inhabitants, this city is the head of the Department of Alto Parana, composed of 11 municipalities.
The city center is full of small businesses and large commercial galleries specializing in electronics and computer science. Free tax imported products attract buyers on both sides of the border, in the so-called shopping tourism, intended for resale. In Ciudad del Este becomes visible the multiplicity of languages and nationalities in the streets of downtown you can hear speak Arabic, Guarani, Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish, among other languages.
Multiculturalism is also evident in clothing and ethnic food supply. In 1996, the business magazine “Forbes” America, recognized as the third international center of commercial importance, after Miami and Hong Kong. The growth of the city was rapid since the construction of the Friendship Bridge that joins Foz on the Parana River and the work of the Itaipu dam. Moreover, it is important that trade in Ciudad del Este mobilized $ 900 million monthly.
City Puerto Iguazu, belongs to Iguazu Department, northwest of the province of Misiones, has 32,038 inhabitants (INDEC, 2010), is geographically and symbolically both far eastern city of Foz do Iguazu as commercially is less active of the three cities. The city was founded in 1901 under the name of Puerto Aguirre, coinciding with the year that opens the way to the Falls. In 1934 the Iguazu National Park was created and three years later the urban design is configured. In 1982 the construction of the International Bridge Tancredo Neves, on the Iguazu River remembers. The main attraction exerted by the city is related to the presence of the Falls and offers related to international tourism, in recent years the city has undergone a remarkable development with new chains, casinos and buy rides like the Duty Free Shop Puerto Iguazu.
Attending the interrelationships, it is possible to characterize the TBA by a number of features that make it a transnational space. It is relatively new urban centers, growing 1 Sandra Mc Leod, Mayor of Ciudad del Este, in an interview with the newspaper “First Edition” Posadas-Misiones, page 9. Friday 25 May 2012. Mayor of the City 2 Puerto Iguazú, Misiones-Argentina. rapid but uneven in the past 40 years; together they form a geopolitical Mercosur, also an especially rich in natural resources. Due to its geographical position, its business and the ease of road infrastructure of bridges and roads are a must for exchanges between countries step. The commercial center of Ciudad del Este, motorizes the economy of the region by concentrating activities of legal and illegal trade. Articles routes that are imported from the Paraguayan city, besides being marketed locally irradiated to the capitals of the three countries. One element that undoubtedly gives particularity to the Triple Frontier is its cultural diversity.
The Triple Frontier was the space chosen by a diverse group of immigrant communities, whose cultural diversity enables Paraguayans, Argentines, Brazilians, Arabs, Chinese, Koreans, Indians and Aborigines are linked, among others; for example Arabs begin their arrival in the triple border in the 1960s particularly Ciudad del Este and Foz do Iguazu. There the Arab colony is composed of 18,000 individuals mostly Lebanese 90%, and a small percentage of Syrians, Egyptians, Palestinians and Jordanians. The city of Foz do Iguazu, it is the second largest Arab colony in Brazil after Sao Paulo. Moreover, the Chinese community and South Korea also settle in urban binomial Ciudad del Este / Foz, both communities meet approximately 5,000 members and is a type of immigration policy linked to the countries of origin to provide migrate, such as business loans for installation.
The presence of migrants has to do with transnational movements of workers and individuals in general who move for various reasons at the global level, which today is nothing more than a consequence of the globalization process by which you are crossing the contemporary world and affects significantly and particularly our border. Arabs, Chinese and Korean immigrants are dedicated almost exclusively to the business of imports and exports in the area, based on the commercial circuit that has the port of Ciudad del Este.
The people of the area of the triple border move in multiple ways, in some cases live in Foz do Iguazu and have their working life in Ciudad del Este or vice versa and in other cases many come to the region after living in foreign countries and some seasonal return to their places of origin
