The Brazilian Empire had lost the East…

The Brazilian Empire had lost the East Bank of the Rio de la Plata with the founding of Uruguay in 1828, but it has continued to meddle in that republic's affairs.

Brazil's most important businessman, Irineu Evangelista de Sousa, the Visconde de Maua, has such heavy financial interests there that his company is effectively the Uruguayan government's bank

Other Brazilians own about four hundred large estates (estancias) that take up nearly a third of the country's territory.

They object to the taxes the Uruguayans impose when they drive their cattle back and forth to Rio Grande do Sul, and they take sides in the constant fighting between Uruguay's Colorado and Blanco political factions, which will later become the Colorado Party and the National Party (Blancos).

Some of Rio Grande do Sul's gauchos had not accepted Uruguayan independence in 1828 and have continually sought intervention.