“La Diplomacia Secreta”: la participación de Colombia en el conflicto entre Perú y España por las islas guaneras

Abstract

During the fourth presidency of General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, the Colom- bian government interfered in a diplomatic incident which apparently violated the neutrality that this country had promised to maintain during the war between Peru and Spain in the 1865-1866 period as a consequence of the Hispanic inva- sion of guano producing islands. In this paper some causes that made a few mem- bers of the Colombian government to decide to support Peru¿s war effort without the consent of Congress are explored. Subsequently, this research identifies the features and characteristics of diplomatic positions that in that time were in con- flict within the Colombian government and that marked the course of diploma- tic relations with the neighbouring countries, in an international political context that was characterized by European invasions on some Latin American territories.

Keywords

• Political history
• Colombian diplomacy
• War
• Latin America
• International treaties
• Independence