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American Wartime Objectives in Latin America
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2011
Extract
Superficial observers of relations between the United States and the other American republics customarily deplore the decline of amity which has assertedly taken place since World War II and lay the blame to deficiencies in our diplomacy. Infrequently does one analyze the factors contributing to the high degree of cooperation that existed during the war itself. Only by such an analysis, it is submitted, can present practices of American policy be seen in their proper perspective. Answers in concrete terms should be suggested to the following specific questions: What did the United States seek from the other American republics? What techniques were employed to reach its objectives? To what extent were those objectives attained? Answers to these questions will help to clarify the place of Latin America in postwar United States policy.
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- Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1950
References
1 In January 1933 United States Marines had left Nicaragua and the evacuation of American troops from Haiti was announced.
2 Reference is made to the Cuban upheaval against dictator Machado and to recognition of the Martinez régime in El Salvador after Central American repudiation of the treaty governing the establishment of relations with revolutionary régimes.
3 Seventh Pan-American Conference, Montevideo, December 1933; Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace, Buenos Aires, December 1936.
4 Montevideo, 1933, Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, Special Protocol Relative to Nonintervention.
5 In little more than a decade an unsuccessful attempt was to be made by Uruguay, with enthusiastic endorsement of the United States, to replace the doctrine of absolute non intervention with a formula for collective intervention.
6 The Buenos Aires Convention for the Maintenance, Preservation, and Re-establishment of Peace, 1936, contained as many verbal weakenings of the agreement to consult as could be devised by human ingenuity. The Declaration of Lima adopted at the Eighth International Conference of American States, Lima, 1938, omitted several of these and stated that consultation should be by a meeting of foreign ministers.
7 Sixth Pan-American Conference, Havana, January-February 1928.
8 Buenos Aires, 1936, Convention for the Promotion of Inter-American Cultural Relations. The idea of cultural exchange between the American republics dates back to the Fourth Conference, Buenos Aires, 1910.
9 Witness the many books in a popular vein on Latin America appearing in 1940 and 1941, and North American adoption of Latin American music.
10 Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the American Republics, City of Panama, Septem ber-October 1939.
11 Second Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, Havana, July 1940.
12 Third Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, Rio de Janeiro, January 1942.
13 Panama, 1939, Resolution III; Havana, 1940, Resolution XXV; Rio de Janeiro, 1942, Resolution II.
14 Antimony, 99% imports from Latin America 1940–44. Mercury, 79% imports from Latin America 1940–44. Quartz, 99+% imports from Latin America 1940–44. Tungsten, 57% imports from Latin America 1940–44, Abaca, almost exclusively from Latin America 1943–45. Cinchona, almost exclusively from Latin America 1943–45. Rubber, of approximately 636,000,000 pounds imported 1942–45, Latin America contributed approximately 204,000,000 pounds. Tin, imports from Bolivia ranged between 38,000 to 42,000 tons 1940–44. Based on figures in Bureau of Mines, Minerals Yearbook, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944; and Department of Commerce, Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the U.S., 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944.
15 Cf. Mason, E. S., “American Security and Access to Raw Materials,” World Politics, Vol. I, No. 2 (January 1949), pp. 147 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16 These programs were generally under the supervision of the Institute of Inter-American Affairs.
17 Rio de Janeiro, 1942: Resolution I, Breaking of Diplomatic Relations; Resolution V, Severance of Commercial and Financial Relations; Resolution XL, Telecommunications.
18 Rio de Janeiro, 1942, Resolution XXXI, recommending the restriction on the use of civilian and commercial aircraft to citizens and enterprises of the American republics or of those other countries in sympathy with the Declaration of Lima.
19 Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, Mexico City, February-March 1945.
20 Cf. U.S. Department of State, Consultation among the American Republics with Respect to the Argentine Situation, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.
21 Rio de Janeiro, 1942, Resolution XXXVII. The Third Meeting of Foreign Ministers resolved “to recommend that special facilities be granted to those countries which, in the opinion of each government, contribute to the defense of this hemisphere during this emergency.”
22 Cf. Statements by Hull, Cordell, Department of State Bulletin, Vol. IX, No. 234, Dec. 18, 1943Google Scholar; Caffery, Jefferson, Department of State Bulletin, Vol. XI, No. 275, Oct. 1, 1944.Google Scholar