Abstract

MONTERROSA CUBIAS, Luis Gerardo. The 1932 Mexico-Guatemala Immigration Conference: A Common Border, Opposed Interests. Hist. mex. [online]. 2022, vol.71, n.3, pp.1271-1306.  Epub Dec 13, 2021. ISSN 2448-6531.  https://doi.org/10.24201/hm.v71i3.4362.

This article studies one episode in the diplomatic relationship between Mexico and Guatemala: the 1932 immigration conference. It examines the problems that precipitated it, the interests of each government and the political situation in Guatemala, explaining that the conference may have put out a fire, but that its coals remained hot. This article is based on the official correspondence contained in Mexican and Guatemalan archives, which shows discordant concerns regarding the border. Reviewing these perspectives and the contrasts between them allows us to study a dynamic that has been overlooked by many experts: the determination of the postrevolutionary regime to order its southern border without offending its neighbor, and the obsession of the Guatemalan government with fortifying its northern border against communist activities. This situation, combined with the interests of Soconusco landowners and the negligence of immigration agents, paints a complex picture, which it is necessary to study from both sides of the border.

Keywords : Immigration; Mexico; Guatemala; Soconusco; 20th Century.