Between the Peasants and the Leviathan: The Expropriation and Spontaneous Seizure of American-Owned Agricultural Property in Mexico, 1934-1941

Abstract

The Cardenas administration also played an integral role in ensuring that the bilateral conflict over land was settled peacefully by employing the diplomatic "weapons of the weak." Mexican officials avoided precipitating hard-line U.S. policies during the agrarian dispute by frequently promising to compensate American landowners and halt the expropriation of American-owned estates. Foot-dragging, evasion, and noncompliance enabled Mexican officials to outmaneuver their U.S. counterparts and obtain substantial economic assistance from Washington in exchange for compensating American landowners.