Enrique Ruiz Guiñazú (14 October 1882 – 13 November 1967) was an Argentine politician who is best remembered for his spell as Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship in the 1940s. His daughter is

Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú María Magdalena Teresa Ruiz Guiñazú (15 February 1931 – 6 September 2022) was an Argentine writer and journalist. She worked in the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons. She received many Martín Fierro Awards including the ...

, an Argentine writer and journalist.

Rise to prominence

Ruiz Guiñazú served as both a professor and a banker before into the diplomatic service, with his roles including chief delegate to the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

and ambassador to Switzerland. He was serving as ambassador to the

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

when President Ramón Castillo recalled him to take up the post of Foreign Minister. Even before the entry of the United States into the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Ruiz Guiñazú had already accrued a reputation as a

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

sympathiser in that country, with his frequent praising of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

and

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

leading American diplomat

Sumner Welles Benjamin Sumner Welles (October 14, 1892September 24, 1961) was an American government official and diplomat. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State from 1936 to 1943, dur ...

to write that Ruiz Guiñazú was "one of the stupidest men ever to hold office in Argentina's proud history". Having previously served as ambassador to Spain, where he had been impressed by

falangism Falangism () was the political ideology of three political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española, the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS), and afterwa ...

, Ruiz Guiñazú advocated both neutrality in the Second World War and ''

Hispanidad (, typically translated as "Hispanicity") is a Spanish term describing a shared cultural, linguistic, or political identity among speakers of the Spanish language or members of the Hispanic diaspora. The term can have various, different implicat ...

'' as Foreign Minister.

Pro-Axis activity

At the Pan-American conference held in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

in January 1942, Ruiz Guiñazú pushed a pro-

Axis Powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

agenda by ensuring that the wording of the US-led agreement was changed from a 'commitment' to breaking off diplomatic relations with the Axis to a 'recommendation'. Ultimately Castillo kept open relations with Germany, Japan and Italy for the duration of his presidency. Ostensibly seeking a peace settlement Ruiz Guiñazú and his main advisor

Mario Amadeo Mario Octavio Amadeo French (11 January 1911 – 19 March 1983 Philip Rees, '' Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'', Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 9) was an Argentine conservative nationalist politician, diplomat and writer who ...

closely co-operated with the Axis powers, sending

Juan Carlos Goyeneche Juan Carlos Goyeneche (6 January 1913 – 16 October 1982) was an Argentine Catholic nationalist politician. Also highly sympathetic to Nazism, during the Second World War Goyeneche travelled to Nazi Germany where he met a number of leading figures ...

to Europe as their own envoy and asking German ambassador Edmund von Thermann to forward plans for an Argentine-hosted peace summit to

Joachim von Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich-Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician and diplomat who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. ...

in which

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

rule over Europe would be officially recognised. However the idea came to nothing and Ruiz Guiñazú's time as Foreign Minister came to an end in 1943.

Writing

Away from politics Ruiz Guiñazú was a noted historian with his 1916 book ''La Magistratura Indiana'' considered a central study of justice in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

under Spanish rule for many years after it was first published.Lyle N. McAlister, ''Spain and Portugal in the New World, 1492-1700, Volume 3'', University of Minnesota Press, 1984, p. 556

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz Guinazu, Enrique 1882 births 1967 deaths Argentine Nazis Argentine collaborators with Nazi Germany Ambassadors of Argentina to the Holy See Ambassadors of Argentina to Spain Ambassadors of Argentina to Switzerland Foreign ministers of Argentina