Panama Conference
The Panama Conference was a meeting by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the United States, Panama, Mexico, Ecuador, Cuba, Costa Rica, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Honduras, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Bolivia, Haiti and El Salvador in Panama City at the Republic of Panama on September 23, 1939,[1] shortly after the beginning of World War II in Europe.
Background
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt had sought to aid Latin America by the non-interventionist Good Neighbor policy, but he soon became aware of the possibility of nations in the region turning to fascism, and he began efforts aimed at uniting the region against its influence. He called conferences, notably the 1936 Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace and 1938 Peru Conference. Despite opposition by Chile and Argentina, the Lima Declaration was unofficially agreed upon at Peru and stipulated that any country in the Americas could call for foreign ministers to attend a conference if it considered Latin America to be threatened.[2]
Shortly after World War II began in Europe, a conference was called in Panama.[2]
Conference
The participants divided themselves into three sub-committees to discuss neutrality, the maintenance of peace in the area, and economic cooperation. At the end of its deliberations, the conference issued the Panama Declaration, which confirmed the neutrality of the participants, banned belligerent submarines from entering their ports, demanded the cessation of subversive activities within their countries, and announced the formation of a maritime security zone which was to extend over 300 nautical miles (560 km) on either side of the American continent except for Canada and European colonies and possessions.[3]
US citizens generally approved of the agreements reached at the conference.[2]
References
- "Meetings of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs". Organization of American States. 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
- "First Meeting of Consultation of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, Panama, 1939", Encyclopedia of U.S.-Latin American Relations, Washington, DC, United States: CQ Press, 2012, doi:10.4135/9781608717613.n320, ISBN 978-0-87289-762-5, retrieved 2021-03-20
- Foreign Relations, 1939, Volume V (PDF) (Report). U.S. Department of State. 1939. p. 35-37. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
Further reading
- Pike, Fredrick B. (1995). FDR's Good Neighbor Policy : sixty years of generally gentle chaos. Austin : University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-76557-3.
- Callcott, Wilfrid Hardy (1968). The Western Hemisphere; its influence on United States policies to the end of World War II. Austin, University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-78390-4.
- Langley, Lester D. (1989). The United States and the Caribbean in the twentieth century. Athens : University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-1153-1.
External links
- Neutrality (Declaration of Panama), 3 October 1939
