The Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace informally known as the Chapultepec Conference, was held in
Chapultepec Castle
Chapultepec Castle ( es, Castillo de Chapultepec) is located on top of Chapultepec Hill in Mexico City's Chapultepec park. The name ''Chapultepec'' is the Nahuatl word ''chapoltepēc'' which means "on the hill of the grasshopper". The castle has ...
in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
on February 21 to March 8, 1945, between the United States and 19
Latin American
Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...
countries. Argentina was not invited because it had not declared war on
the Axis Powers in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The original goals were to discuss the status of Argentina, the role of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
and postwar American economic aid. The second goal was postponed. There was agreement that Argentina could rejoin the inter-American community if it were to declare war on
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. The Latin American countries feared that American commitment to the United Nations would in some ways be in conflict with the
Pan-American ideals. Therefore, the conference adopted a formal resolution called the Act of Chapultepec which proclaimed the principle of collective self-defense through regional pacts. This policy was adopted by the United Nations and
Article 51 of the UN charter, which authorized regional security arrangements. The provisions also provided the basis for the
Rio Treaty
The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (commonly known as the Rio Treaty, the Rio Pact, the Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, or by the Spanish-language acronym TIAR from ''Tratado Interamericano de Asistencia Recíproca'') is an agreem ...
of 1947, which was an inter-American collective security
pact
A pact, from Latin ''pactum'' ("something agreed upon"), is a formal agreement between two or more parties. In international relations, pacts are usually between two or more sovereign states. In domestic politics, pacts are usually between two ...
.
See also
*
Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance
The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (commonly known as the Rio Treaty, the Rio Pact, the Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, or by the Spanish-language acronym TIAR from ''Tratado Interamericano de Asistencia Recíproca'') is an agree ...
of 1947
*
Pan-American Conference
The Conferences of American States, commonly referred to as the Pan-American Conferences, were meetings of the Pan-American Union, an international organization for cooperation on trade. James G. Blaine, a United States politician, Secretary ...
Notes
Further reading
* Connell-Smith, Gordon. ''The inter-American system'' (1966).
* Inman, Samuel Guy. ''Inter-American Conferences, 1826-1954: History and Problems''. Washington: University Press 1965.
* Mecham, J. Lloyd. ''The United States and Inter-American Security, 1889-1960''. Austin: University of Texas Press 1961.
* Smith, Gaddis. ''The Last Years of the Monroe Doctrine'' (1994)
{{Organization of American States
United States–South American relations
Organization of American States treaties
Diplomatic conferences in Mexico
1945 in Mexico