Forgotten Neighbors: Uruguay–United States Diplomacy During the World War II Era (Power, Politics, and the World)

An examination of the relations between Uruguay and the United States in the context of World War II

In December 1939, a neutral and unprepared Uruguayan nation was unexpectedly thrust into the center of international politics after a damaged German battleship, the Admiral Graf Spee, limped into Montevideo’s harbor following the naval Battle of the River Plate. In the months that followed, stories of Nazi subversion proliferated throughout the region, including sensational reports that authorities had discovered documents outlining Nazi plans to seize the Uruguayan republic. Although the Nazi menace in Latin America was greatly exaggerated, the events in Uruguay served as an opening for nascent US strategies in the region. By November of 1940, Uruguay–US relations reached new heights of relevance when a political crisis broke out in Uruguay and Argentina after the New York Times reported that the Uruguayan government had secretly approved the establishment of US military bases on its soil.

In Forgotten Neighbors, Pedro M. Cameselle-Pesce focuses on the relations between Uruguay and the United States in the context of World War II and FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy in order to provide a more complete understanding of wartime US–Latin American diplomacy. According to Cameselle-Pesce, conditions created by the war required a rearticulation of ethnic identity and contributed to broader debates about the nature of the Uruguayan nation. Despite FDR’s popularity, conservative leader Luis Alberto de Herrera effectively depicted the potential US military presence as a threat to culture and race, asserting that Uruguayans “must defend against penetrations” to protect “that which is Hispanic.” Conversely, struggles in Europe and at home mobilized local anti-fascists, who sought to shape the country’s future but also held divergent views about the costs of an alignment with the United States. Forgotten Neighbors emphasizes Uruguay’s important role in the era’s inter-American affairs and in the evolving US security matrix, highlighting both the vast reach and limits of US power.