Drago Doctrine

The Drago Doctrine, articulated by Argentine statesman Luis María Drago in 1902, opposed the use of military force by foreign powers to collect debts from South American nations. This doctrine emerged when Great Britain, Germany, and Italy threatened armed intervention to collect Venezuela's public debt. Drago asserted that public debt should not justify armed intervention or territorial occupation in the Americas.12

Essentially a restatement of the earlier Calvo Doctrine, the Drago Doctrine was accepted in a modified form by the United States at the second Hague Peace Conference in 1907 as the Porter Convention. While the U.S. opposed European intervention in the Americas, it reserved its own right to intervene in Latin American states when its interests were perceived to be threatened.2