Asylum as Foreign Policy in Midcentury Mexico

During the twentieth century, Mexico earned a reputation as a place of refuge for political exiles from across the globe. This fact has drawn the attention of a growing number of scholars in recent years, who have shed light on the experiences of various national groups that enjoyed the protection of the Mexican state. However, the state itself has been peripheral to much of this literature, and questions remain about the government’s motives in granting its protection. Daniela Gleizer has been among the first scholars to approach the subject of exile from a state perspective. Her work on Jewish refugees reveals a Mexican government more exclusionary than the benevolent state at the center of official history, and thus marks the beginning of a revisionist interpretation of exile in Mexico. Putting the state at the center of the analysis raises questions about the motives and priorities that guided asylum policy, and deepens our understanding of the Mexican state in some of the most turbulent moments of the twentieth century.

In this paper, I provide an overview of my research using asylum as a window onto Mexico’s foreign policy between 1944 and 1959. During this period, the Mexican government consistently granted asylum to political exiles from the Caribbean Basin who plotted against their government in violation of Mexican law and caused frequent conflicts between Mexico and neighboring states. Exploring the reasons why the government granted protection to this problematic group, I argue that asylum was key to a foreign policy premised on the image of Mexico as a humanitarian power and a voice of morality in the Americas. Examining asylum policy as foreign policy speaks to the construction of national identity in the international sphere and highlights the priorities of the Mexican government as it sought to navigate shifting geopolitics at mid-century.