![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/files\/2017\/10\/JuanAntonioRios-221x210.jpg\")
President Juan Antonio Rios of Chile, who announced his country’s support of the Allied nations on January 20. Photo by Abbie Rowe. From Harry S. Truman Library, National Archives and Records Administration.<\/p><\/div>\n
Even though the country\u2019s population includes an estimated 20,000 Germans, 12,000 Italians and 700 Japanese, life seems to be continuing as normal for all. Reports say that crowds still gathered around newsstands to read the Nazi newspaper, Supplemento<\/em>, the day after the policy change.<\/p>\n Both the Chilean news media and the public at large celebrated the break with the Axis powers as a wise decision. Even publications such as Supplemento<\/em> chose to praise Rios for his promise not to harm Italian, German or Japanese civilians. In addition, Chilean citizens reportedly cheered aloud during various points in Rios\u2019 speech.<\/p>\n With this decision, Chile joins a number of Latin American counties that have declared their support for the Allies, including Brazil, Mexico and Bolivia.<\/p>\n Some nations, such as the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Cuba took their support for the allied nations to the battlefield, declaring war on Germany and Italy just four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.<\/p>\n In fact, Nicaragua readied itself for war a mere two days after the attack on the US. In a special session on Dec. 9, 1941, the Nicaraguan Congress gave its president authorization to declare war on any non-American government that attacked any country in the Americas.<\/p>\n On the day Rios announced his support for the allied cause, many foreign diplomats welcomed the news at a meeting with the diplomatic corps in Chile, which excluded the Axis nations.<\/p>\n In particular, the Peruvian ambassador said that Chile\u2019s move to support democracy will help make the Americas stronger as a unit.<\/p>\n \u201cWe gladly witness Chile\u2019s decision because it brings the country into line with Peru and others who broke off months ago in cooperating with the cause of democracy,\u201d the ambassador explained.<\/p>\n However, despite having widespread support both nationally and internationally, Rios\u2019 decision was met with some backlash.<\/p>\n The Argentinean ambassador, Carlos Guiraldes, reportedly walked out of the corps meeting with a serious look on his face and declined to comment on the issue. Reports circulated that, when Guiraldes met with Rios on Jan. 15, he tried to persuade Rios to remain neutral to no avail.<\/p>\n Chile\u2019s decision leaves Argentina as the last nation in the Americas in which Axis agents are allowed. The likelihood is that agents, formerly residing in Chile, will now migrate to Argentina. This possible scenario is reportedly disquieting to the country\u2019s officials as they are trying to remain neutral in the conflict. In addition, Argentina is facing increased social pressure from other Latin American nations to join the Allied cause out of solidarity.<\/p>\n Given its geography, the decision on the part of Chile\u2019s leaders to support the Allies was reportedly a long-debated topic.<\/p>\n Without the means to fully protect its expansive coastline, Chile feared retaliation from the German or Japanese navy if they were to side with Allied forces. While reports say that Chile\u2019s fear subsided as Axis forces were continually directed away from them, the country still risked an attack.<\/p>\n Rios\u2019 willingness to defend his belief in democracy, despite the potential cost, demonstrates the powerful effect of this conflict. He explained that now is not a time to focus on individual needs.<\/p>\n \u201cNo nation and no individual can look with isolated indifference on the war,\u201d he said in his national broadcast.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cCHILE BREAKS TIES WITH AXIS POWERS: President Rios Says Time Has Come to Give More Ample Support to Democracy EXCITING DAY IN COUNTRY Latin-American Diplomats Hail Decision — Santiago Now Seeks Envoys\u2019 Return.\u201d New York Times<\/em>, January 21, 1943, p. 8.<\/p>\n \u201cChile’s Break With Axis Marks Trend of Times.\u201d Los Angeles Times<\/em>, January 21, 1943, p. A4.<\/p>\n \u201cCHILE SEEN REBUFFING PLEA BY ARGENTINA: Envoy Said to Have Argued Vainly Against Break With Axis.\u201d New York Times<\/em>, January 16, 1943, p. 4.<\/p>\n \u201cChile Strikes at Axis Spies: Alien Residents Pledged They Won’t Be Molested if War Laws Obeyed.\u201d Los Angeles Times<\/em>, January 22, 1943, p. 4.<\/p>\n \u201cLATIN NATIONS JOIN IN WAR ON ITALY, GERMANY: Cuba, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica Act.\u201d Chicago Daily Tribune<\/em>, December 12, 1941, p. 7.<\/p>\n \u201cNazi Paper Still Published.\u201d New York Times<\/em>, January 22, 1943, p. 5.<\/p>\n \u201cNicaragua Joins in War.\u201d New York Times<\/em>, December 10, 1941, p. 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chile\u2019s president, Juan Antonio Rios, announced today that the country had suspended relations with Germany, Italy and Japan. In a radio broadcast to the Chilean people, Rios explained his plans to support the Allied nations. He said Chile would devote resources, such as its rich mineral supply, to the effort and aid in the manufacture […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3931,"featured_media":1303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diplomacy","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/files\/2017\/10\/JuanAntonioRios-e1516295981534.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8bpwr-l0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3931"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1302"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1405,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302\/revisions\/1405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/ww2-0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}