Mexico and the Spanish Republic. 1931-1939.

Abstract

This thesis examines Mexico's relationship with the Second Spanish Republic, and analyses the rationale behind the Lazaro Cardenas government's (1934-1940) decision to provide military, diplomatic and moral support to the Republic during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The Mexican government sent arms and ammunition to Spain when other nations refused to do so, constrained by the so- called Non-Intervention Pact. Moreover, Mexican diplomats organised a covert network to buy arms in third countries and then re-direct them to Spain. Mexico also lent the Spanish Republic its diplomatic backing at the League of Nations, where its delegates defended the Republican cause and denounced both the Axis intervention and the democracies' inaction. The thesis also interprets the repercussions that such policy had on internal Mexican politics, and for Mexico's international position, most particularly with regards to the United States. The Spanish War generated a backlash in Mexico, with the growth of a domestic Right, heavily influenced by European Fascism and Spanish Falangism. Conversely, Cardenas' position concerning Spain ultimately afforded his government the backing of the Roosevelt administration in the final showdown with that Rightist opposition. Extensive reference is made to primary sources, mainly diplomatic documentation and newspaper reports of the period.