“No Podía Permanecer Indiferente”: A Fragmented Mexican Revolutionary Family Intervenes in the Costa Rican Civil War (1948)

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the interventions of different official and non-official actors of Mexican origin in the Costa Rican civil war in 1948. The article demonstrates that during the early Cold War years, Mexico’s international relations with Central America were conducted by multiple actors, part of different transnational networks, in part due to the ruptures surrounding the pacts of what was known as the Mexican revolutionary family. This article reconstructs the different historical trajectories, interests, agendas, and actions of these actors, shedding light on a topic often neglected by Mexican foreign policy historiography. Taking up recent debates over Mexico’s stance during the Latin American Cold War, this article contributes to filling the gap in the early Cold War Mexican foreign policy towards the region, stressing nuances over the existence of a non-intervention, homogeneous foreign policy that prioritized the relationship with the United States.