Pan-American conferences have brought together representatives from countries of North, Central, and South America. These meetings also have been called Inter-American conferences. Through the conferences, the nations have worked to create closer and more friendly economic, cultural, and political relations with one another.
The original Pan-Americanism.
Simón Bolívar, a South American statesman, took the first steps toward setting up an arrangement among American republics (see Bolívar, Simón ). Through his efforts, various independent American countries held their first conference in 1826 in Panama City, Panama. Other conferences took place in Lima, Peru, in 1847; in Santiago, Chile, in 1856; and in Lima in 1864. These conferences were attended by delegates from Spanish American republics and focused on political issues, such as cooperation among the countries in the defense of their national sovereignty.
The “new” Pan Americanism.
By 1889, the United States had begun to exercise leadership in inter-American affairs. That year, U.S. interest in expanding trade with Latin America led to the First International Conference of American States, also known as the Pan-American Conference, in Washington, D.C. The conference established the International Union of American Republics, with the Commercial Bureau of the American Republics as its central office. In 1910, the bureau became the Pan American Union. The five conferences between 1889 and 1933 met under a cloud of fear of the United States. During this time, the United States interfered in the affairs of several Latin American countries, often by force.
The Good Neighbor Policy.
United States President Herbert Hoover realized the need for better relations between the United States and Latin American countries. However, significant progress toward that goal occurred only after Hoover’s successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, established the Good Neighbor Policy. This policy affirmed that no nation had a right to interfere in the affairs of another nation. The United States endorsed the policy at conferences in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1933 and in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936. The Good Neighbor Policy led to increased cooperation between the United States and Latin American countries during World War II (1939-1945).
Stronger ties.
Representatives at a Mexico City meeting in 1945 sought to further strengthen the Inter-American system. The first step in this direction was a treaty to meet acts of aggression. In a 1947 conference held near Rio de Janeiro, representatives drew up the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, or Rio Treaty, which declared that an armed attack on one member was an attack against all.
An Inter-American Conference held at Bogotá in 1948 resulted in the establishment of the Organization of American States (OAS). The Pan American Union became the permanent body of the OAS and eventually was named the organization’s General Secretariat.
After 1948, Cold War issues often dominated the Inter-American conferences. These issues included ways to achieve political reform and economic growth in the Western Hemisphere to help stop the spread of Communism. In 1960, the OAS took its first collective action against a country. It imposed diplomatic sanctions against the Dominican Republic, then under the control of dictator Rafael Trujillo.
In 1961, the United States and Latin American countries established the Alliance for Progress. This program, proposed by U.S. President John F. Kennedy, called for social and economic development based on democracy and capitalism. But the program failed to end Communist rule in Cuba or the Communist movements in some other Latin American countries. Communists had gained power in Cuba in 1959.
In 1962, the OAS unanimously supported a United States naval quarantine aimed at preventing Soviet nuclear weapons from entering Cuba. In 1969, an OAS conference of foreign ministers acted quickly to end an invasion of Honduras by troops from El Salvador.
Amendments to the OAS charter went into effect in 1970. They provided for a General Assembly that would meet annually. The General Assembly replaced the Inter-American Conference, which had usually held regular sessions every five years.
