Mexican–Colombian Cultural Diplomacy in the 1930s and the Political Uses of the Past

Abstract In 1938 and 1940 the governments of Mexico and Colombia exchanged statues of Benito Juárez and Francisco de Paula Santander. Through this exchange and the diplomatic ceremonies and cultural events that surrounded it, the two governments selectively interpreted their past to fortify their diplomatic relations in the present. Cultural diplomacy played an important role in inter-American relations, and this article demonstrates that rather than serving as empty gestures of goodwill, such exchanges were examples of governments’ political use of the past, pursued with the aim of advancing foreign policy goals. By constructing a narrative of the past based on anti-imperialism and evidenced by their dedication to nineteenth-century liberal heroes, they countered the conservative opposition they faced at home and abroad. Based on analysis of Mexican government documents and periodical sources from both countries, this article shows that the past was present in inter-American cultural diplomacy in the first half of the twentieth century.