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Chile, Spain and Latin America: The Right of Asylum at the Onset of the Second World War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Jean Grugel  and
Monica Quijada
Jean Grugel
Affiliation:
Lecturer in Politics at the University of York.
Monica Quijada
Affiliation:
Researcher at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
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Extract

In December 1938 an alliance of the Radical, Communist and Socialist parties took office in Chile, the first Popular Front to come to power in Latin America. A few months later, in Spain, the Nationalist forces under Generalísimo Franco occupied Madrid, bringing an end to the civil war. Shortly after, a serious diplomatic conflict developed between Spain and Chile, in which most of Latin America gradually became embroiled. It concerned the fate of 17 Spanish republicans who had sought asylum in the Chilean embassy in the last days of the seige of Madrid, and culminated in July 1940 when the Nationalist government broke off relations with Chile. Initially, the issue at the heart of the episode was the right to political asylum and the established practice of Latin American diplomatic legations of offering protection to individuals seeking asylum (asilados). The causes of the conflict, however, became increasingly obscured as time went on. The principles at stake became confused by mutual Spanish– Chilean distrust, the Nationalists' ideological crusade both within Spain and outside and the Chilean government's deep hostility to the Franco regime, which it saw as a manifestation of fascism. The ideological gulf widened with the onset of the Second World War. This article concentrates primarily, although not exclusively, on the first part of the dispute, April 1939–January 1940. In this period asylum, which is our main interest, was uppermost in Spanish–Chilean diplomatic correspondence.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 1-2 , March 1990 , pp. 353 - 374
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

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5 Chile: 1891 and 1932; Brazil: 1930; and Venezuela: 1935.

6 1841, 1848, 1865–75, 1891 and 1898.

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8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 Collection of International Instruments Concerning Refugees.

11 Embajada de Chile to MAE, Burgos, 20 April 1939, AMAE R1670 exp. II.

12 See the following Chilean newspapers: El Diario Ilustrado (Catholic right), La Hora (Radical Party), Trabajo (Nazi), El Imparcial (right-wing), La Nación (government controlled), Frente Popular (Communist) of 20 and 21 May 1.939.

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14 Suñer to MAE, Santiago, 13 June 1939, AMAE R1670 exp. ii.

15 Ibid.

16 See the reports contained in AMAE R1670 exp. ii.

17 Undated internal report delivered in Burgos. Also MAE to Suñer, 30 April 1939.

18 Undated Chilean memorandum, AMAE R1670 exp. ii.

19 Ibid.

20 Circular telegram to representatives in Latin America, Burgos, 17 June 1939.

21 Ibid.

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31 Suñer to MAE, Santiago, 27 June 1939.

32 Ibid.

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39 Collection of International Instruments Concerning Refugees.

40 Official declaration from MRE, Santiago, 9 Aug. 1939.

41 MRE to diplomatic representatives in Latin America, Santiago, undated.

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50 Spanish representative in Lima to MAE, 19 Aug. 1939.

51 10 Aug. 1939.

52 Suñer's despatches of August 1939 show an increasing preoccupation with the security of his own position, to the extent that he suddenly begins to refer to the refugees as ‘indebidamente asilados’ to illustrate his unquestioning loyalty to the position adopted by Spain.

53 Suñer to MAE, Santiago, 11 Aug. 1939. The fact that Suñer continues to talk of ‘delincuentes comunes’ shows the extent of the ignorance in which he was kept.

54 Suñer to MAE, Santiago, 25 Aug. 1939; MAE to Suñer, 25 Aug. 1939.

55 Suñer to MAE, Santiago, 26 Aug. 1939.

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61 AMAE R1652 exp. 66. This note was published in all major Chilean and Latin American newspapers on 18 July 1940.

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63 For details of this process, see AMAE R1652 exp. 66 and R4007 exp. 2.

64 Collection of International Instruments Concerning Refugees.

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