Rio- 1829

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1829: Rio de Janeiro
The Snowball of External Debt

It has been 7 years since Prince Pedro proclaimed himself emperor of Brazil. The country was born into an independent life knocking at the doors of English bankers. King Juan, Pedro's father, had stripped the bank bare and taken with him to Lisbon the last grams of gold and silver. The first millions of pounds sterling soon arrived from London. The customs income was mortgaged as a guarantee, and native intermediaries got 2% of every loan.

Now Brazil owes double what it received and the debt rolls on, growing like a snowball. The creditors give the orders and every Brazilian is born in debt.

(Faces & Masks, Vol 2 of Memory of Fire Trilogy, by Eduardo Galeano p. 137)