Panama Conference

The Panama Conference was a meeting of the foreign ministers (or equivalents) of all the sovereign nations in North and South America from 23 September to 3 October, 1939, shortly after the beginning of World War II.

In attendance were the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.

[1] The attending countries jointly issued the Panama Declaration expressing the policies agreed to for maintaining their neutrality.

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt had sought to increase US influence in Latin America by the "Good Neighbor policy" of non-interventionism.

[2] Shortly after World War II began in Europe, Roosevelt called for a conference in Panama.

Preliminary map of the maritime security zone created by the Declaration of Panama, based on straight lines between points about 300 nautical miles offshore.