The Vatican’s Latin American Policy

It is not unlikely that within the next two years nearly every country in Latin America will be governed by an elected civilian regime. This might surprise most Americans, accustomed as we are to thinking about the region in terms of coup-prone military governments and repressive oligarchies. We are surprised too at the recent embrace of democracy in Latin America by the Reagan administration. Some of its leading representatives went about touting the virtues of authoritarian government; but the administration has found that it is good politics to promote democracy and free elections in Central America and the Caribbean— and politically impossible to resume aid to regimes with bad human rights records. In fact, “Project Democracy” is the latest buzzword of Reagan's Latin American policy.

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The Formation and Development of the International Bankers Committee on Mexico

The Journal of Economic History ◽

10.1017/s0022050700109246 ◽

1963 ◽

Vol 23 (4) ◽

pp. 574-586 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Robert Freeman Smith

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Latin American ◽

Mexican Revolution ◽

The United States ◽

United States Government ◽

States Government ◽

Mexican Government ◽

American Policy

The International Bankers Committee on Mexico has been generally ignored by American diplomatic historians, and those who have mentioned it have missed the basic significance of its organization and operation. The writer of the leading text dealing with the Latin American policy of the United States devotes less than a paragraph to the Committee and says, “The United States did not even demand arbitration. It left the bondholders to their own representations to the Mexican Government.” This statement can be compared to a description of an iceberg which deals only with that part showing above the surface of the water. The heart of this presentation will be the analysis of that part of the Committee's activities which lay beneath the surface—a study in the interaction of government, business, and revolution. The basic thesis involved is that the Committee was an unofficial instrument of the United States government, as it attempted to influence certain aspects of the Mexican Revolution.

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