Felippe Lopes Neto

Felippe Lopes Neto, also written Lopes Netto, was born in Recife in 1814 and studied law in Brazil and Pisa. His early politics put him in conflict with the monarchy: participation in the Praieira revolt led to imprisonment on Fernando de Noronha before an amnesty allowed his return. He later entered parliamentary and diplomatic service, becoming a deputy in 1864 and undertaking a special mission to Bolivia in 1866. ¹

At La Paz on 27 March 1867, Lopes Neto and Bolivian minister Mariano Donato Muñoz signed a treaty covering boundaries, navigation, commerce, and extradition. Their subsequent exchange of notes clarified that navigation on specified frontier lakes was open to both countries. It also explained the limits on punishment when military or maritime deserters were returned: where desertion carried a death sentence, the receiving state was obliged to commute it. The treaty was promulgated in Brazil in 1868. ²

Lopes Neto was vice-president of Brazil's executive commission at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876. He engaged an architect, arranged displays, prepared for Pedro II's visit, dealt with other commissioners and American contacts, and managed sales, donations, and shipment of objects after the exhibition closed. Antônio Pedro de Carvalho Borges was the commission's president. ³

His subsequent diplomatic work included Uruguay and Washington, followed by an arbitration assignment concerning foreign claims against Chile. He also represented Brazil in Italy. Created a baron in 1888, he died in Florence in 1895. ¹