Foreign Policy of the Polish People’s Republic on Mexico 1945-1989

Abstract

In the period between 1945-1989, Polish-Mexican relations were determined by the Cold War rivalry. Poland remained in the Soviet sphere of influence and its sovereignty was limited by Moscow. Although controlled by the Kremlin, Poland had its own initiatives in foreign policy. Warsaw considered Mexico to be the most important partner in Latin America (not to mention the communist ally, Castro of Cuba), thus Polish diplomacy made many efforts to strengthen mutual political, cultural and economic relations. Mexico, with its independent foreign policy, progressive state ideology and tremendous market, seemed a particularly valuable partner in Latin America to the Polish communist leaders. The climax of Polish diplomatic initiatives occurred in the 1970s. Mexico was also interested in cooperation with Poland, especially in its economic dimension but the result of the efforts was mixed. The poor performance of Polish-Mexican economic relations when compared with the Mexican commercial exchange with other East European countries proves that the efforts of the Polish government in the economic sphere were rather futile. Political relations were good, however geopolitically both countries belonged to different spheres. The special, independent position of Mexico in world politics made such friendly relations possible.