Searching for Allies in America’s Backyard: Yugoslav Endeavors in Latin America in the Early Cold War

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze Yugoslavia’s endeavors to create stronger connections with Latin American governments and left-wing organizations from the early 1950s until the early 1960s. My central claim is that during those years Belgrade pursued a systematic policy that made it that by the early 1960s the Yugoslavs had become a serious factor in the region. I also contend that the Yugoslav policy of non-alignment proved to be a double-edged sword: Belgrade’s neutralism and its prestige as an alternative to the Soviet model paved the way for it to garner influence in Latin America, but its less militant stance and its refusal to take part in bloc divisions became a limitation in the 1960s, when the region became a hotbed of Cold War conflict and many of Yugoslavia’s local partners came to see non-alignment as impracticable. Drawing mainly from Yugoslav archival sources, my analysis focuses on the activities of the Socialist Alliance of the Working People of Yugoslavia, an organization charged with establishing connections with left-wing political movements abroad. More succinctly, I also account for the growing diplomatic importance of international cultural cooperation and for the part played by Yugoslav experts specialized on Latin American affairs.