Liberal Exiles in the Southern Cone of America in the 1820: the case of João Soares Lisboa in Buenos Aires (1822-1823)

Abstract

 This article examines communications networks and political culture, focusing on journalist João Soares Lisboa in Buenos Aires and other exiles in the Sourthern Cone, a militarized region with undetermined borders between the Brazilian Empire and the recently independent Spanish-American republics in the years 1822 to 1823. Historically recognized as the most radical journalist in the Province of Río de Janeiro, Soares Lisboa was accused of “republican confabulation” in the first judicial and political investigation of the Brazilian Empire (1822) and was forced to leave the country. Likewise, the government prohibited him from working in the editorial office of the Correio do Rio de Janeiro newspaper, where he played a leading role in the politicization of the Brazilian independence process. In November 1822 he embarked clandestinely to Buenos Aires, where he went into exile until early 1823. His Spanish-American exile was a decisive factor in his condemnation and in the absolution of all others accused, such as Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo; it also defined the rearticulation of the political game, constituting a crucial moment in the politics of the Brazilian Empire. In this regard, exile is analyzed as a cultural transition, with the construction of imaginary boundaries and networks, as well as the acquisition of experiences and viewpoints on the “other”; also as a mechanism of liberal politics and as a form of doing politics, employed mainly by journalists. Later on, exile became a part of the historical memory of these exiles as a factor that at times served to qualify them as radicals and, at other times, as examples of historical trajectories of constitutional moderation.