The Paris Peace Conference of 1946 was called to consider peace terms for Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Finland. The government of Mexico asked for representation at the sessions which were to draft the Italian treaty but was turned down on the grounds that the Moscow Agreement had made no provision for this. Several other nations, all in the Caribbean area, expressed interest in the Italian treaty, mainly for protection from claims by Italian nationals.
None of these nations seems to have protested strongly at being left out. However, Brazil did take part in the conference to the extent of proposing amendments to the Italian treaty, providing committee members, and consulting with the United States on a variety of matters. The Brazilian Foreign Minister complained politely to Secretary Byrnes that after Brazil’s contribution to the war, it had been left off the reparations commission. Byrnes replied soothingly that perhaps Brazil “would get more reparations through seizure of German assets in Brazil than through any other system of allocation.” But the Foreign Minister would not be put off with this open, hint; he “emphasized the psychological and political effect . . . of Brazil’s exclusion” (III, 67). Doubtless the Mexicans, at least, felt the same way.
If the Latin Americans could hardly get a toe in the door at Paris, it is not surprising to find them wholly absent from the volumes on the British Commonwealth (mainly Canada and India), central Europe, the Near East, and Africa.
