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Juan Alberto Salazar Rebolledo
En este artículo busco dar cuenta de cómo el proyecto tercermundista adquirió una forma particular de imaginación y discursividad en el gobierno del presidente mexicano Luis Echeverría (1970-1976), la cual se manifestó en la construcción de lo que llamo temporalidades tercermundistas, que fueron proyectadas en el plano de la internacionalización educativa. A partir del análisis del proceso de diversificación de las relaciones exteriores impulsado por el gobierno de Echeverría, propongo que, dada la imposibilidad de una puntual localización geográfica del Tercer Mundo, es posible aproximarse a pensar sobre este proyecto político en términos de temporalidades, tomando como eje el estudio de la multilateralización de las relaciones internacionales de México y su implementación desde el rubro educativo, para intentar posicionar al presidente como líder del Tercer Mundo. En este proceso se conjuntaron nacionalismo e internacionalismo; antiimperialismo y búsqueda de negociación con los países poderosos; imaginación con pragmatismo; así como pasado, presente y futuro. La construcción discursiva de temporalidades tercermundistas derivaba de la revisión selectiva del pasado y el presente mexicanos, para refuncionalizarlos hacia un posible futuro alternativo del proyecto del Tercer Mundo, en el que se buscaba que México tuviera un papel relevante. Mediante este procedimiento, se apuntaba a renovar la legitimidad del régimen, a la par de insertarlo, bajo el mando de Echeverría, en el debate contemporáneo de aquel proyecto, con lo que también se posicionarían intereses gubernamentales y personales, que no necesariamente calzaban del todo con las discusiones más ambiciosas del proyecto tercermundista. Para dar cuenta de ello, analizo fuentes como: esquemas preparativos para la formulación de políticas públicas, documentos producidos estatalmente para la administración pública y otros confidenciales, acuerdos internacionales, discursos, libros de texto, crónicas, entrevistas y películas. El artículo está dividido en cinco secciones, en las que: primero, (1) hago un balance historiográfico y de antecedentes históricos, para situar el estudio; (2) realizo un breve análisis de los planteamientos generales de la política exterior de Luis Echeverría de aproximación al tercermundismo y, en particular, de su relación con Cuba; (3) retomo los documentos relativos a las reformas educativas del sexenio y los textos en los que el secretario de Educación, Víctor Bravo Ahuja, situó al proyecto educativo como parte del Tercer Mundo, inspirado por el modelo educativo cubano; en este mismo apartado examino las reestructuraciones al interior de la SEP, que dieron lugar a la creación de dependencias como Cine Difusión SEP; más adelante, (4) el acercamiento a Cuba se materializó con la visita de Bravo Ahuja a la isla en 1974, por lo que acudo a la fuente cinematográfica que registró la visita en Viaje a Cuba (Bosco Arochi, 1974), así como los acuerdos de colaboración firmados en aquella ocasión; finalmente, (5) a través de algunos proyectos y publicaciones, repaso la proliferación de los proyectos orientados hacia el Tercer Mundo que, al final del sexenio, cohabitaron en México, para interrogarles acerca de las particularidades de sus temporalidades tercermundistas.
In this article I seek to explain the way in which the Third World project acquired a particular form of imagination and discursivity in the government of Mexican President Luis Echeverría (1970-1976). This is based on the construction of what I call Third World temporalities, which were projected on the internationalization of education. Through the analysis of the process of diversification of Foreign Relations promoted by the Echeverría government, I question whether, in the absence of a specific geographical location of the Third World—as Vijay Prashad has proposed—it is possible to approach thinking in terms of Third World temporalities. By taking as its axis the study of the Mexican project of multilateralization of international relations and its implementation in the educational field, the discursive construction of Third World temporalities derived from a selective review of the Mexican past and present, to redirect them towards a possible alternative future of the Third World project, in which Mexico sought to have a relevant role. Through this process, the aim was to renew the legitimacy of the regime, while inserting it, under the command of Echeverría, into the contemporary debate of that project- this would also seek to advance their governmental and personal interests. In this process, nationalism and internationalism came together; anti-imperialism and the search for negotiation with powerful countries; imagination and pragmatism; as well as past, present, and future, when trying to position interests that did not necessarily fit fully with the most ambitious discussions of the Third World project. To account for this, I analyze sources such as: preparatory schemes for the formulation of public policies, documents produced by the State for the public administration and other confidential ones, international agreements, speeches, textbooks, chronicles, interviews, and films. The article is divided into five sections: (1) I make a historiographical assessment and construct the historical background to situate the study; (2) I carry out a brief analysis of the general approaches of Luis Echeverría’s foreign policy towards the Third World political project (in particular, his relationship with Cuba); (3) I go back to the documents related to the educational reforms of the period, and the discourses and educative materials in which the Secretary of Education -Víctor Bravo Ahuja- placed the educational project as part of the Third World, and which was inspired by the Cuban educational model. In this same section I examine the restructuring within the SEP, which led to the creation of agencies such as Cine Difusión SEP; (4) since the approach to Cuba materialized with the visit of Bravo Ahuja to the island in 1974, I talk about the cinematographic source that portrayed the visit in Viaje a Cuba (Bosco Arochi, 1974), as well as the collaboration agreement signed in that trip; finally, (5) through some projects and publications, I review the proliferation of projects oriented towards the Third World that, at the end of the six-year term, cohabited in Mexico, to question them about the particularities of their Third World temporalities.The initial focus is on the concepts that intervene to think about educational internationalization and the debates that intersect with nationalism and its discourses. Furthermore, the foundations for reflection on Third World temporalities are outlined through a wide but concrete revision of recent historiography, highlighting Latin American leadership of the mobilization through events such as Conferencia Tricontinental de La Habana in 1966. I also delve into the intertwined nature of National Liberation Movements when they seized power, and it became necessary to link their struggles with other nations. The most used resource to do so was through their shared history of exploitation, the present of continuing neo-colonialism, and their projections of the future. As a result, as one of my first approaches to characterize Third World temporalities. I briefly draw the process of distancing and rapprochement between Mexico and Cuba during the sixties and seventies. It is especially underlined how some of the trends that Echeverría used to reconnect both with the island and for his Thirdworldism had a direct background in the first attempt to address global politics of the former Mexican president Adolfo López Mateos (1958-1964). This way, it is possible to measure the implications of the appropriation and promotion of the Third World discourse by Echeverría when he came to power. Among other elements, Echeverría’s insistence on positioning the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States —also known as “Carta Echeverría”— at the UN in 1974 is described, and how he took advantage of it to campaign for his personal interests. Although the Charter did not have as much impact on global politics as he wanted, Echeverría used it as a motto to travel around the world and portray himself as the ideal leader to champion the Third World cause. I present the references that the head of Secretary of Public Education (SEP), Víctor Bravo Ahuja, took to formulate a proposal for educational reform that would manage to reconcile a nationalism weakened by recent events in the country with a necessary internationalization, in accordance with the multilateralist efforts that the government dedicated to its foreign relations. SEP promoted an education reform that tried to distance Mexican education from the former ways of learning, as well as nuancing the importance of “nationalism” through positioning learning in the international arena. However, the new program had as its main objective not changing Mexican society’s structures but providing labor capable of integrating into the Global dynamics of ruling capitalism. Again, the Third World discourse of the Mexican government showed itself as a disguise to advance interests far away from building an alternative society. Anyway, the investment in building ties with the other nations had a concrete dimension, specifically with the only Third World country —Cuba— that the SEP was inspired by to formulate its new educational plan. I review the key events of Bravo Ahuja’s trip to the island in 1974, and to cover a wider dimension of this event, I put it into dialogue with the film Viaje a Cuba that Bosco Arochi made as part of Cine Difusión SEP unit. The dialogue between the account of facts, the images of the movie, and the final international agreements that the officer signed with his Cuban counterparts is the foundation to open a final discussion on how Mexican Third World temporalities manifested in that period. Finally, I address the decline of Echeverría’s unsuccessful efforts in the international arena, for example, when he failed in his campaign for the UN’s General Secretariat. This intertwines with the proliferation of projects linked to the Third World in Mexico at the end of his term. The diversity of publications, events, discussions, and the organization that Echeverría himself founded -the Centro de Estudios Económicos y Sociales del Tercer Mundo- show how each of those projects connected and lived within different levels, versions, and projects of the Third World temporalities. I conclude that the efforts of the Mexican government to revitalize its legitimacy through forcing a discourse full of future, such as the Thirdworldism of that moment, also intended to hide its own failures and its unwillingness to transform anything at all.
