“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

pursue further rights. They would prove critical as he mobilized social resources to protect
his claim to free status under Uruguayan law.
Much like Pedro had worked to construct networks of solidarity throughout the
borderlands, Fermin also actively sought to enhance his social alliances in Salto by assisting
other Brazilians of color fleeing from bondage. For example, Silmei Petiz describes an
incident in which another Brazilian slave, Maria, fled from Bernadina Maria Ferreira, Manuel
Ferreira’s wife, to Salto in the early 1850s. 35 Bernadina complained bitterly to Brazilian
officials that the Uruguayan police had delayed arresting the slave. She testified that they had
demanded additional documentation in order to establish ownership. By the time Bernadina
could provide sufficient proof of her rights, Maria had disappeared. Bernadina alleged that
Maria remained “hidden somewhere in the village of Salto.” 36 Although the letter made no
reference to Fermin, we can speculate that his presence in Salto provided a reason for Maria
to flee across the border to that city. He could also offer protection from her Brazilian
masters after she arrived there. By again adeptly exploiting borderlands instability, Fermin
appeared to have created the necessary space for other slaves to move towards freedom. In
the process, he tightened webs of connections. He could turn to these relationships if and
when the need to litigate his free status arose. Like many of the elites we have seen
throughout this dissertation, Fermin proved adept at operating within the cross-border
networks that defined borderlands legalities. Like Pedro, his membership in the Uruguayan
political community was becoming a collective project.
Fermin also undoubtedly ratcheted-up the pressure on his erstwhile Brazilian masters
as their valuable economic assets disappeared across the border to join him. Renewed
35 Petiz, Buscando a Liberdade, 69.
36 Ibid., quoting AHRGS. Grupo Documental Estatística, Lata 531, Maço 1.
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