The Potreros of the Andes dispute (Cuestión de los potreros de cordillera in Spanish) was a territorial and diplomatic conflict between Chile and Argentina in the 19th Century, in which an incident occurred in March 1845 involving the Chilean rancher Manuel Jirón from the Maule Province and Argentine authorities from the Mendoza Province in the area of the Andes.
History In the context of the tensions between the unitary and federal sides in River Plate politics,Historia Argentina: Unitarios y federales (1826–1841). Written by José María Rosa. Published by Editorial Oriente, 1841 the presence of exiles from this country in Chile, and the cutting of commercial traffic with Mendoza ordered on April 13, 1842, by the Chilean president Manuel Bulnes, and the anger of the Mendocino governor José Félix Aldao (from the federal side of Juan Manuel de Rosas), a tense event occurs in March 1845, when the Chilean cattle rancher residing in Talca, Manuel Jirón, is approached by a gang of ten or twelve Argentine rustlers coming from Cuyo in his hacienda. They requested a payment of money in the name of the Governor's Office of Mendoza. They asked for payment for the cattle grazing that Jirón was doing in the potreros of El Yeso, Los Ángeles, Valenzuela and Montañés.
Jiron paid the amount when they threatened to take away his animals, which he later confirmed to the Chilean authorities, expecting compensation for the money. The incident was known as the "mountain potreros issue".
The territory where this occurred is located south of the Diamante River in the mountainous area of Talca, so the territory was understood by Jiron as part of Chilean jurisdiction.
The Municipality of Talca was in charge of protecting the cattle ranchers in the area, and the investigation of the case showed that the aggressors came from San Rafael de Mendoza Fortress.
The Government of Chile sent a note of protest to the Government of Argentina saying:
To which Argentina did not protest.
On December 4, 1846, a technical commission was created in Buenos Aires, composed of and , which published on April 27, 1847, in which they argued the territories where the incident occurred as Argentine, although not specifying whether or not they belonged to the province of Cuyo, as they were south of the Diamante River:
The Argentine president, Juan Manuel de Rosas, sent officials to tax Talca ranchers in the area in question in 1847 and 1848. By then he had already resolved to incorporate into his country the territory south of the Diamante River to the Río Negro, most of which he knew after his 1833 expeditions.Álvaro Barros (1975). Fronteras y territorios federales de las pampas del sur. Buenos Aires: Librería Hachette, pp. 20La conquista de quince mil leguas: Estudio sobre la traslacion de la Frontera Sud de la Republica al Rio Negro, dedicado a los gefes y oficiales del Ejército Expedicionario. Pp. 346–348. Written by Estanislao Severo Zeballos. Published by Establecimiento Tipográfico a vapor de "La Prensa", 1878
After the 1881 treaty the boundary divided the disputed area with the areas of Valle Hermoso, Las Leñas and the eastern sector of Paso Potrerillos for Argentina, and the lands near Curicó of Potrero Grande, Potrero Chico, El Planchón, , those of the Maule river basin, such as the Maule river basin, such as the lagoon and river of La Invernada, and the sector of El Colorado for Chile.
See also Potrero (landform) 1856 Argentina–Chile treaty Uti possidetis juris 1826 Chile–United Provinces of the Río de la Plata treaty East Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and Strait of Magellan dispute
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