The Prado Doctrine and the Illusion of a Latin League in the Context of the Cold War

Abstract

In the literature on Euro-Atlantic relations in the bipolar contraposition years, the reflections on the strategic role of Latin America in the defense of the West are still scarce. Most of the works are limited to underlining the marginality of the area, underestimating that some initiatives to create organic links between the regional pacts of the entire Atlantic community were not lacking, even from the Latin American side. In this context, the essay analyzes the purposes of the Prado Doctrine, an initiative presented by the Peruvian president between 1957 and 1958 with the aim of building a solidarity core of Latin countries and allowing Latin America to assume more assertive positions in the structures of the international policy. With the support of unpublished diplomatic sources, the reflection focuses mainly on the contradictions and processes that prevented the Prado doctrine from reaching practical applications. Therefore, the work article examines the Cold War alliances in Latin America in order to point out the heterogeneity of positions that the system held to the detriment of the ideal solidarity often exhibited.