A pericentric punta del este: Cuba’s failed attempt to join the Latin American Free Trade Area (LAFTA) and the limits of Brazil’s independent foreign policy

Abstract

This article analyzes a crucial but still neglected episode in Latin America’s Cold War: the mobilization of regional anti-Communist governments to oppose Cuba’s attempt to join the Latin American Free Trade Area (LAFTA) in August 1962. We focus particularly on the forces that shaped Brazil’s position, which initially supported Cuba, but eventually changed course.