Jaao

Uruguay still claims two pieces of land that Brazil runs today. The bigger one is Rincão de Artigas, about 237 km² of ranchland, a little bigger than the city of Recife. It sits inside Santana do Livramento, a Brazilian city on the Uruguay border. An 1851 treaty said the border there follows a small creek called the Arroio da Invernada. In 1934, a Uruguayan army captain said the line had been marked along the wrong creek, and Uruguay asked Brazil to fix it. Brazil said no. In 1985, a rancher named Thomaz Albornoz gave part of his land so Brazil could start a village there, and Uruguay protested again on August 17th, 1988. Starting in 2022, Eletrobras built a R$2.4 billion wind farm on that land, and all 72 of its turbines were running by July 2025, enough power for about 1.5 million consumers. In June 2025, Uruguay sent a note saying the wind farm "does not imply recognition" of Brazil's control. The second piece is Ilha Brasileira, a river island about 3.7 km long where Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina meet. The 1851 treaty gave Brazil the islands at the mouth of the Quaraí River, and Uruguay says this one sits in the Uruguay River, outside the treaty. Uruguay has formally objected since 1940, and the exact point where the three countries meet is still not agreed. Brazil runs a village and a 72-turbine wind farm on land a neighbor still claims, 175 years after one treaty sentence about a small creek.