The reporst of viceroy Vértiz and the governor of Paraguay Melo de Portugal on the precise port of Santa Fe in 1778. His influence on the abolition of the privilege in 1780

Abstract

We present here an excerpt from a larger investigation referring to the “precise port” of Santa Fe (1740-1780). On this occasion we will focus on the final instances of the privilege, based on the debate held in Madrid within the Supreme Council of the Indies and the decisive role played in this outcome by the reports produced in 1778 by Viceroy Vértiz and the Governor of Paraguay. Melo from Portugal, especially the latter, written in harmony with the physiocratic thought of the Minister of the Indies José de Gálvez. The opinion of Melo de Portugal had a greater impact than that of Vértiz, especially in the Ministry of the Indies, where a Royal Order was produced that empowered the viceroy to suspend the privilege if the statements of the governor of Paraguay were adjusted to reality, which It actually provided this on a provisional basis, although the measure remained firm in fact. The entire process sheds light on the Atlantic turn of the River Plate economy, of which the forced Santa Fe monopoly was a symptom in the midst of the decomposition of the “Peruvian space.” It also illustrates the internal functioning of metropolitan institutions during decision making.