Bojan Simić

SOCIALIST YUGOSLAVIA AND SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES (1946–1950) – ESTABLISHING DIPLOMATIC AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS 

Abstract: Based on unpublished archival material, published sources and relevant literature, the paper analyzes the relations between the FPRY and the countries of South America in the early years after the Second World War. The year when Yugoslavia renewed diplomatic relations with the most important countries of the South American continent was taken as the starting year of the research, and 1950 was chosen as the last. This was the year that saw signing trade agreements with Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Peru, and the peak of trade exchange with Argentina and the re-establishment of broken diplomatic relations with Chile.

Keywords: Yugoslavia, South America, diplomacy, economic relations, Cold War

Summary: After the consolidation of power in the country after the Second World War and normalization of relations with the Great Powers and European countries, FPRY diplomacy sought international recognition on other continents as well. For this purpose, in the summer of 1946, General Ljubo Ilić went to South America as a minister plenipotentiary. By the end of the year, diplomatic relations were established with the three most important countries of the continent: Brazil, Argentina and Chile. These were countries in which the Kingdom of Yugoslavia also had embassies before the war. Relations with most of the other countries of the South American continent were established in the early fifties. In addition to establishing relations with these countries, relations with Chile were severed in October 1947. Namely, the Chilean president accused the Yugoslav charge d’affaires, Andrej Cunja, and the advisor of the FPRY embassy in Buenos Aires, of taking part in activities against the constitutional order and economy of Chile. The diplomats were expelled from the country, and the FPRY government reacted by severing diplomatic relations.  We will argue that the main reason for severing diplomatic relations between Chile and Yugoslavia was the internal political situation faced by President Gonzalez Videla and the government in the fall of 1947, while not excluding the partial influence of the USA, as well as the revolutionary activities of some Yugoslav diplomats and emigres. Yugoslavia also had its own economic interests in South America, which it tried to realize through its embassies, as well as trade missions it sent to the countries of the continent. The first trade agreement was signed with Argentina in June 1948. In 1950, this was repeated with a series of countries: Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and Peru. Those agreements led to the systematization of trade and its rise, so in 1950 Argentina was the fifth largest exporting and sixth importing partner of the FPRY. Subsequently, this position was taken over by Brazil. Yugoslavia mostly imported leather, wool, cotton, cocoa and coffee from South American countries, while it exported cement, timber, hops and chemical products.