The Drago Doctrine was announced in 1902 by Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis María Drago in a diplomatic note to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. This doctrine stated that simply failing to repay national debt was not a valid reason for foreign intervention, especially by a power outside of the Western Hemisphere. The doctrine was a response to the European powers' blockade of Venezuela, which occurred after the country defaulted on its debt. Washington accepted and used the Drago doctrine. In order to prevent further interventions, the United States took control of the customs of several Latin American countries to ensure debt payments were made to Europe. Drago was responding to a tension between the

Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine is a foreign policy of the United States, United States foreign policy position that opposes European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It holds that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign ...

keeping Europe out and the European demand for repayments of debts. It assumed the principle of sovereign equality that the United States had long supported. It explicitly stated that no foreign power, including the United States, could use force against a nation in the Western Hemisphere to collect government debts. In 1904, the

Roosevelt Corollary In the history of United States foreign policy, the Roosevelt Corollary was an addition to the Monroe Doctrine articulated by President Theodore Roosevelt in his 1904 State of the Union Address, largely as a consequence of the Venezuelan cri ...

was issued by the United States in response to the Drago Doctrine and asserted the right of the United States to intervene in Latin America in the interests of American business and Latin American independence from European powers. A modified version, known as the Porter Convention after Horace Porter, was adopted at

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

in 1907 and added that arbitration and litigation should always be used first.

History

It grew from the ideas expressed by Carlos Calvo in ''Derecho internacional teórico y práctico de Europa y América'', commonly known as the Calvo Doctrine. The Calvo Doctrine proposed to prohibit diplomatic intervention before local resources were exhausted. The Drago Doctrine itself was a response to the actions of Britain, Germany, and Italy, which, in 1902, had blockaded Venezuela in response to Venezuelan government's refusal to pay its massive foreign debt that had been acquired under previous administrations before President Cipriano Castro took power. Secretary of State

John Hay John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a Secretary to the President of the United States, private secretary for Abraha ...

was taken aback by the reference to the

and delayed six weeks before responding by quoting

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

's 1901 annual message to Congress: "We do not guarantee any state against punishment if it misconducts itself." Roosevelt himself, although he would lavish praise on Drago's doctrine in later years, had earlier written in his capacity as Vice President to the German diplomat Hermann Speck von Sternburg that "if any South American State misbehaves towards any European country, let the European country spank it." The Drago Doctrine was used by

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

as a rationale for its vote in support of Argentina at the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

meeting on the Argentine debt crisis that involved NML Capital.

References

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History

See also

References

Further reading