State, foreign policy and internationalization of Construtora Norberto Odebrecht: Brazil as a regional paymaster

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the beginning of the internationalization process of Construtora Norberto Odebrecht (CNO) in the late 1970 from the Brazilian foreign policy that sought to project the country as a regional paymaster. Our focus lays on CNO’s practice in Peru, from the construction works of Charcani hydroelectric plant (1979), and in Ecuador, with the irrigation works in Santa Elena Peninsula (1988). Therefore, we draw on materials internally disclosed by cno –the Odebrecht Informa magazines– together with other sources and the literature on regional integration. This way we aim to demonstrate how the Brazilian government benefits from CNO’s activities to shape its practice in the continent and project itself as a regional paymaster.