Latin America during the Second World War

De Baripedia
Latin America during the Second World War
Faculté Lettres
Département Département d’histoire générale
Professeur(s) Aline Helg[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Cours The United States and Latin America: late 18th and 20th centuries

Lectures


While the countries of Latin America were officially neutral during World War II, many of them supported the Allies by providing resources such as raw materials and food. However, their involvement was limited compared to the major players in the war and the impact of the conflict on the region was relatively limited. Some countries, like Mexico and Brazil, did send troops to fight in the war, but their contributions were small compared to the larger Allied powers.

President Lazaro Cardenas of Mexico was known for his progressive and anti-fascist stance, and he did raise concerns about the Spanish Civil War and the involvement of fascist powers like Italy and Germany. He attempted to bring the issue to the international community through the League of Nations, but his request for intervention was not supported by France and England. Despite this, Cardenas remains a respected figure in Mexican history for his social reforms and his commitment to democracy and anti-fascism.

None of the countries in Latin America officially aligned themselves with the Axis powers during World War II. In fact, most Latin American countries maintained a neutral stance throughout the conflict and did not actively participate in the fighting. However, many of them did support the Allies by providing resources and supplies, and some countries, such as Mexico and Brazil, did send troops to fight in the war. But overall, Latin America's involvement in the war was limited and their impact on the outcome of the conflict was relatively small.

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European Refugees in Latin America: 1934 - 1939

During the 1930s, as political instability and persecution increased in Europe, many people fled to other countries, including Latin America, in search of safety and a better life. Many refugees, including artists, intellectuals, and political activists, sought refuge in Latin America, where they could escape the fascist and Nazi regimes in Europe. Some countries in the region, such as Argentina and Brazil, were particularly welcoming to these refugees and provided them with opportunities to rebuild their lives and pursue their careers. The arrival of these refugees had a significant impact on the cultural and intellectual life of the region and many made lasting contributions to their new communities.

Jews migration

The Evian Conference was held in 1938 to address the issue of the growing number of refugees fleeing Europe. However, many countries, including the United States, were reluctant to admit large numbers of refugees, including Jews, due to concerns about immigration quotas and public opinion. Under Rafael Trujillo's regime, the Dominican Republic offered to admit up to 100,000 Jews. Still, this offer was not widely taken up and most Jewish refugees could not find safe haven in Latin America. Despite the limitations, some Jews could find refuge in the region and start new lives, but the vast majority of those who sought asylum could not escape the horrors of the Holocaust.[8][9][10] The motivations behind Rafael Trujillo's offer to admit Jewish refugees were not entirely humanitarian. While Trujillo did present the offer as a humanitarian gesture, it was also part of a larger political strategy to improve his image and deflect attention from human rights abuses in the Dominican Republic. Trujillo was facing international pressure, including from the United States, over his role in the massacre of thousands of Haitians. The offer to admit Jewish refugees was seen as an attempt to improve his image and distract him from this issue. Additionally, Trujillo's regime was characterized by racial ideologies that saw the Dominican population as too "Africanized," and he saw the arrival of white European refugees as a way to "whiten" the population and promote his vision of a purer, more European Dominican Republic. Despite Trujillo's motivations, the offer was not widely taken up, and most Jewish refugees could not find safety in the region.

With the help of American Jewish organizations, a small number of German Jews could find refuge in the Dominican Republic before eventually emigrating to the United States. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and other organizations helped to facilitate their resettlement, providing them with financial and practical support as they started new lives in the Americas. Despite the limited number of refugees who could find safety in the Dominican Republic, the assistance provided by American Jewish organizations played an important role in helping those in need and highlighting the humanitarian crisis facing European Jews.

Argentina was one of the few countries in Latin America that offered a relatively welcoming environment for Jewish refugees fleeing Europe before and during World War II. There was already a significant Jewish community in Argentina, dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries when many Jews fled Russia to escape persecution. This established community provided a supportive network for new arrivals and helped them to settle in their new country. Argentina had a relatively open immigration policy, and many Jewish refugees could obtain visas and start new lives there. As a result, Argentina became one of the largest destinations for Jewish refugees in Latin America, and the Jewish community in the country continued to grow and thrive.

Political refugees

In addition to Jewish refugees, many political refugees fled Europe to escape political persecution during the 1930s and 1940s, including socialists and communists who were targeted by fascist regimes in Italy, Spain, and Germany. Many of these refugees found asylum in Latin America, including in countries like Argentina, where they could continue their work and contribute to their new communities' intellectual and cultural life. Some of these refugees went on to teach at universities and engage in other forms of public intellectual work, helping to shape their new countries' political and intellectual landscape. Their presence also contributed to the growth of left-wing political movements and intellectual currents in Latin America, and helped to build connections between Latin American and European intellectual communities.

Republican spaniards

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) resulted in the defeat of the Spanish Republicans and the establishment of Franco's dictatorship in Spain. Many Republicans and socialists fled Spain to escape persecution and sought asylum in other countries, including France. Under President Lazaro Cardenas, the government of Mexico stood out for its willingness to help these refugees. Through an agreement with the Vichy government in France, Mexico offered asylum to approximately 12,000 Spanish Republicans and socialists between 1939 and 1942. This group of refugees included a large number of civil servants from the Spanish Republic, as well as teachers, intellectuals, and artists, and women made up a significant portion of the refugees, estimated at around 40%. The arrival of these refugees had a significant impact on Mexican society and culture, and helped to strengthen ties between Mexico and the Spanish-speaking world.

The arrival of Spanish Republicans and socialists in Mexico significantly impacted Mexican culture and intellectual life. These refugees brought a wealth of cultural and intellectual knowledge, as well as political and artistic perspectives, and helped enrich Mexican society. They also contributed to the development of Mexican leftist political movements and helped to solidify ties between Mexico and the Spanish-speaking world.

The Mexican government refused to recognize Franco's regime and instead extended recognition to the Spanish government in exile, which was based in Mexico. This position reflected Mexico's opposition to fascism and support for the Spanish Republicans, and helped to cement further Mexico's reputation as a leader in the fight against fascism and dictatorship in the region.

The arrival of Spanish Republicans and socialists in the Dominican Republic was part of Trujillo's broader plan to "whiten" the population of the country and strengthen the Hispanic and white elements while downplaying the Afro-Caribbean elements of the population. Trujillo saw the arrival of these refugees as an opportunity to improve the image of the Dominican Republic, both domestically and internationally, and to attract more investment and support from the Spanish-speaking world.

Trujillo's motivations were not purely humanitarian. He was known for his brutal regime and treatment of minority groups in the Dominican Republic, including the massacre of thousands of Haitians in 1937. Nevertheless, the arrival of Spanish Republicans and socialists in the Dominican Republic helped to strengthen the country's cultural and intellectual ties with Spain and the Spanish-speaking world, and had a lasting impact on the country's development.

In addition to Mexico and the Dominican Republic, Spanish Republicans and socialists also sought asylum in other countries in the region, including Chile, Cuba, and Argentina. These refugees were welcomed in these countries, both for their political and cultural contributions, as well as for their skills and knowledge. In Argentina, for example, many Spanish Republicans and socialists helped strengthen the country's cultural and intellectual life and contributed to its development as a regional leader.

In Chile, Spanish Republicans and socialists also helped enrich the country's cultural and intellectual life and contributed to developing the country's leftist political movements. They helped build bridges between Cuba and the Spanish-speaking world in Cuba, and their influence can still be seen in the country's political and cultural landscape today.

The arrival of Spanish Republicans and socialists in Latin America helped to strengthen the region's cultural, political, and intellectual ties with the Spanish-speaking world, and had a lasting impact on the development of the countries that welcomed them.

Economy

The Second World War had a major impact on the economies of Latin America, especially in countries with large domestic markets like Brazil and Mexico. The cessation of imports from Europe during the war created opportunities for local industries to start up or expand, particularly in sectors like textiles and heavy industry, including metallurgy.

In addition, the war created new markets for Latin American goods, as the Western Allies turned to the region for supplies to support their war effort. For example, Brazil became a major producer of rubber, which was in high demand for military uses, and Argentina exported large amounts of beef to the Allies.

However, it's worth noting that the war also brought challenges to the region, such as inflation and shortages of certain goods, as well as the strain of supporting the war effort through increased production and reduced consumption. Despite these challenges, the war had a profound impact on the economies of Latin America, and helped to spur the development of key industries and sectors, especially in countries with large domestic markets.

During the Second World War, the United States' increased demand for raw materials and agricultural products created new export opportunities for many Latin American countries. With demand outpacing production and rising prices, these countries accumulated reserves, which helped boost their economies.

For example, countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico became significant suppliers of raw materials, such as rubber and coffee, and agricultural products, like beef, to the Allies. This increased demand allowed these countries to increase their production and exports and to earn higher prices for their goods, which helped to stimulate economic growth and improve living standards.

Additionally, the war created new markets for Latin American goods and provided an impetus. It provided industrialization in the region, as countries sought to meet the demand for war-related goods and materials. Thus, the Second World War played a significant role in the development of the economies of many Latin American countries.

In contrast to the United States and other countries that were directly involved in the war, Latin America did not experience significant social changes due to the conflict. Since Latin American countries did not participate in the war, the mobilization of their populations was limited, and the majority of their citizens remained at home.

As a result, there was little change in the traditional gender roles or the structure of society in the region. Women did not take on new roles in the workforce or the military to replace men who had gone off to fight, and there was no significant influx of women into the workforce as was the case in other countries.

However, it is worth noting that the increased economic activity and the inflow of foreign capital that resulted from the war did lead to some social changes in Latin America, such as improved living standards and increased opportunities for education and employment. These changes were limited in scope, however, compared to the profound social and economic transformations that took place in many other parts of the world during the war.

Politics

Since the end of the 1920s, populism has tended to impose itself and can be right or left wing. The other change that has been taking place since the 1920s is that we are beginning to see a workers' movement forming in these industrial enclaves; with the war, this movement is being boosted in the cities, in industrial and agricultural areas with an increase in trade unionism.

In most countries, trade unions, socialist parties and communist parties under Soviet influence are being formed; the Moscow Kominterm leads these communist parties deciding as a priority to fight against fascism. This order is followed to the letter throughout Latin America and even more so after Hitler's invasion of Russia in 1941.

For the labour movement, this has positive effects in the short term, but negative effects in the long term. During the war, in many democratic countries when liberal governments came to power, these governments associated the communist parties with the government accepting the development of communism.

The communist parties under the Kominterm agreed to reform the trade union movement, which generally allied itself with the party in power, and this was the case in Colombia and Cuba, where in 1940 Batista was elected on a broad platform of national union integrating communists into his regime.

In the long term, this strategy will lose out, because the unions and left-wing parties will put themselves in a position of dependence on the government, leaving the unions to take a much more national and protectionist line that will defend workers and social benefits rather than defending internationalism.

Communist parties under these dictatorial regimes had been banned before the war as in Brazil where trade unionism depends on the government, under Cardenas in Mexico the government forms an Institutional Revolutionary Party and a single trade union. In the long term, the effects are negative, because all labour movements will affiliate with the government and lose their autonomy.

Right-wing tendencies also appeared with Mussolini's fascism, which continued to be emulated, and then from 1933 onwards the corporatist dictatorship of Salazar in Portugal and Franco in Spain were also emulated, especially among the conservative Catholic bourgeoisie in several countries supported by Catholic Social Action, which was directed from the Vatican to create a Catholic workers' countermovement that did not advocate class struggle.

For the conservative elites, they see in the dictatorial regimes of Europe the possibility of economic dirigisme, authoritarianism with the obsession to control the popular masses imagining to apply similar regimes to Latin America and to copy the regimes of order and progress that we saw developing from 1870 - 1880 in order to impose a social order, to control work and to segment the economy leaving the private sector to develop with the protection of the State.

A trend was emerging with a very strong Catholic extreme right that attacked the workers' movement, communism and freemasonry. There are strong political confrontations on the model of Spain during the civil war, which are very strong and often end in very strong repression of the workers' and peasants' movements.

In 1930 and 1940, many Latin American countries were dictatorships. In countries that are not dictatorships, such as Colombia, an ultra-Catholic right-wing is relentlessly attacking the ruling liberal party, which has made an alliance with the socialist party, accusing them of freemasonry, socialism and communism.

From neutrality to war against the Axis

Nazism after 1933 tried to strengthen its ties with Latin American nations in order to secure a supply of raw materials. They tried to develop an important diplomatic activity especially towards Argentina and Chile because already at the end of the 19th century Prussia had links with these two countries providing military missions in order to train these armies on the Prussian model.

Small communities of German immigrants are found in Argentina, Guatemala and Uruguay forming local Nazi parties estimated to have 8,000 adherents in Latin America, but at the same time it has 25,000 adherents in the United States. However, it was virtually impossible for them to gain a foothold in Latin America, anti-Semitism could find followers, but outside Argentina there were virtually no Jews, while the glorification of the Aryan race was hardly likely in Latin America where the overwhelming majority was mestizo.

In spite of the fact that many leaders are interested in what is being done in Italy, Portugal and Spain, no country allies itself with the Axis countries.

This shows that Europe has lost influence to the United States. The latter is mobilising Latin America under its aegis by developing the principle of non-intervention by one country in another.

At the same time, at the end of 1938 a Declaration of Continental Solidarity was adopted and in September 1939 the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American States adopted a position of neutrality in the war.

In 1940, after the defeat of France and the Netherlands, these same ministers decided to place the colonies of South America and the Caribbean under the trusteeship of the American States in order to preserve the neutrality of the Americas, Germany did not make any attack, particularly against Martinique and Guadeloupe.[11][12][13][14]

Latin America's entry into the war will be in the wake of the United States; it is through the attack on Pearl Harbour that Latin American countries will declare war on Germany and Japan, mainly Central American and Caribbean countries where the United States had intervened in the 1920s. However, this is a statement in the United States movement.

What is most ironic is that almost all of them are dictatorships that are joining the allied forces.

The only countries that have independent policies are Mexico and Brazil, which decided to remain neutral at that time.

In 1942, the United States called a conference in Rio de Janeiro to break off diplomatic and trade relations with the Axis powers. From then on, the United States put pressure on Brazil, Mexico and Argentina to declare war on the Axis.

Some countries have a greater or lesser margin of manpower, including Mexico, with its 2,000 km of common borders with the United States, which declares war on the Axis in 1942 and sends a squadron to the Pacific; it is a decision that stems from the fact that Cardenas has no sympathy with the Axis forces, but it has also just won the arm wrestling over the nationalization of Mexican oil. Roosevelt has agreed that US companies will be compensated by Mexico.

In December 1942, Brazil, then led by Vargas, declared war on the Axis. Like Mexico, Brazil is a force that the United States cannot dominate at will. The United States' other obsession was that Brazil could serve as a bridgehead between Germany and the rest of the world. That is why Brazil carries a certain amount of weight, while the United States decides to use Brazil in its own strategy to take over Europe.

Vargas negotiates with the United States while talking to Germany in order to frighten the United States; when Germany proves incapable of supplying arms and when the United States decides to finance an arms factory, Brazil pretends to attack a submarine in order to declare war on the Axis and send troops to Italy in particular.

Escudo del GOU (águila imperial y al centro imagen del General San Martín).

South American countries usually declare war in 1945, but this does not prevent them from helping the allies by delivering raw materials. The last country to declare war and Argentina in April 1945 three days before Hitler's death, it is to the advantage of the country to maintain neutrality while supplying raw materials to England and the United States.

Perón in Argentina is a late populism. In the early 1940's Argentina was in a political stalemate. Its political system no longer corresponded to society, even the Radical Party and the Socialist Party were still dominated by a land oligarchy and old Argentine families who used electoral fraud to stay in power, at the same time no new parties represented the cities.

Popular discontent mounted and the military watched this with increasing impatience until 1943 when a group of military officers, the United Officers Group, overthrew the civilian government in the name of the people. Immediately, it dissolved the congress and banned all political parties.

Perón is an ambitious trade unionist, trained in the army, having spent time in Mussolini's Italy and Nazi Germany. In 1943, he became Minister of Labour and Vice-President. From this position, he built his political base. The United States viewed this with great concern, as Argentina had still not declared war and in 1943 when the GOU took power the United States refused to recognize him, accusing him of being an authoritarian and pro-Nazi country; however, Perón did not declare war on Nazi Germany until it collapsed.

In 1946, when Perón presented himself as the protector of the poor, the U.S. ambassador led a campaign to denounce Perón as a fascist who reinforced Argentine nationalism and favored Perón's election.

The Roosevelt administration's security program against "dangerous enemy aliens."

It's a little-known program similar to the one for Japanese Americans. This security program is launched against "dangerous foreigners of enemy nationality".

It is a program that leads 15 Latin American countries to deport Germans to the United States[15], of Japanese and Italians to be interned in concentration camps in Texas. All the property of these enemy aliens is seized and confiscated.

The paradox of this problem is that only a very small part of these minorities have anything to do with Nazism. Of the 4,000 Germans deported, only 8 were later identified as spies in the service of Nazi Germany.

None of the three countries where there are large German colonies participate in this program. Mexico refuses to participate.

These deportees come from countries where Germans are few in number. 50% of Germans from Honduras, 30% from Guatemala, and 20% from Colombia are deported. The overwhelming majority of these deportees are "good neighbours" in Roosevelt's Good Neighbour Policy and many of them are anti-fascist opponents and Jews who fled Nazi Germany.

This has a lot to do with the representations that the American government and American citizens have of Latin America. They are convinced that Hitler wants to use Brazil to attack the United States and that they are unable to resist Hitler's propaganda.

These fears are entrusted by the British services which were intended to force the United States out of its neutrality; all these reports have been recognised as disinformation by England in order to force the United States into war.

This belief was based on contempt for the government in Washington. Propaganda will support this mystification, from this representation the government of Roosevelt asks the countries of Latin America to establish a list of suspects and to deport them to the United States while confiscating their goods, they are Germans, but also all those who own businesses and industries run by Germans, because in the imagination they would be likely to trade with Germany.

The American embassies draw up a list of politically or economically suspect individuals and very often these governments act confidentially, because they do not establish any proven sympathy, but the listed individuals are arrested and their properties are confiscated, and in some cases, such as Somoza in Nicaragua, which responds eagerly to Washington's requests to confiscate the properties of Germans who will later pass into the hands of American companies.

We find ourselves in a situation where these tactics will be used again in the Cold War.

European refugees in Latin America after the war

The Nazi refugees will not be bothered in the Cold War and will be involved in the American dictatorships in the 1960s.

Annexes

References

  1. ↑ Aline Helg - UNIGE
  2. ↑ Aline Helg - Academia.edu
  3. ↑ Aline Helg - Wikipedia
  4. ↑ Aline Helg - Afrocubaweb.com
  5. ↑ Aline Helg - Researchgate.net
  6. ↑ Aline Helg - Cairn.info
  7. ↑ Aline Helg - Google Scholar
  8. ↑ La conférence d'Évian sur le site du Mémorial de la Shoah.
  9. ↑ La Conférence de la peur, film documentaire de Michel Vuillermet, 68 min, 2009
  10. ↑ Greg Robinson « Le Projet M de Franklin D. Roosevelt : construire un monde meilleur grâce à la science… des races », in Critique internationale 2/2005 (nº 27), p. 65-82
  11. ↑ Allevi, Jean-Jacques. “Seconde Guerre Mondiale : La Martinique Sous La Botte De Vichy.” Geo.fr, 20 Mar. 2019, www.geo.fr/histoire/seconde-guerre-mondiale-la-martinique-sous-la-botte-de-vichy-194978
  12. ↑ Cantier, Jacques. L'empire Colonial Sous Vichy. Jacob, 2004. url: https://books.google.fr/books?id=5qKdHytlv-gC&pg=PA67&dq=martinique+guadeloupe+deuxi%C3%A8me+guerre+mondiale&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiv_ejOxtfkAhWFAWMBHZRQB1YQ6AEIQDAD#v=onepage&q=martinique%20guadeloupe%20deuxi%C3%A8me%20guerre%20mondiale&f=false
  13. ↑ Sim, Richard, and James Anderson. The Caribbean Strategic Vacuum. Institute for the Study of Conflict, 1980.
  14. ↑ Skelton, Tracey. Introduction to the Pan-Caribbean. Arnold, 2004. url: https://books.google.fr/books?id=4Jd9AwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA35&dq=martinique%20guadeloupe%20second%20world%20war&pg=PA35#v=onepage&q=martinique%20guadeloupe%20second%20world%20war&f=false
  15. ↑ World War II related internment and expulsion of Germans in the Americas
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