Through the 1960s and 1970s, Chicano/a activists living in the U.S. sought a new sense of political and cultural coherence with Mexicans. Seeking to bridge their political activism through ideas of shared cultural and historical roots, common political struggles, and political aims. The hopes for political unity between Chicano/as and Mexicans were also framed within the multilevel backdrop Cold War struggles. In the United States, racial and cultural discrimination were central issues to Chicano/a activism that challenged the exclusion of their community from equal access to education, jobs, and political process. The Cold War atmosphere of anti-communist politics and anti-foreign radicalism mixed with democratic ideals shaped the way that the Chicano/a movement developed in the U.S.
At the same time, Mexico was experiencing an upsurge of political activism among students, peasantry, workers, and intellectuals that linked urban and rural struggles for land, employment, political freedom, and social justice. Mexican revolutionary nationalism mixed with Marxist-Leninist-Maoist romantic ideologies, democratic rhetoric, and traditions of authoritarianism collided with Cold War politics shaping political activism and government response. This paper situates the political-cultural relations established between Chicano/as and Mexicans within the multi-level processes of the Cold War. How did the international landscape shape the struggles and interactions between Mexicans and Chicano/as? How ideas of Mexican identity, Pan-Americanism, and anti-imperialism gave expression to political aims, ambiguities, and contradictions between Chicano/as and Mexicans at a time of heighten political repression?