Estrategias argentinas frente al boicot norteamericano en ciencia y tecnología (1946-1955)

Abstract

Entre los años 1946 y 1955, el gobierno de Juan Perón en Argentina se enfrentó a un fuerte boicot norteamericano que, entre otras áreas, perjudicó seriamente aquella relacionado con la Ciencia y la Tecnología. En un contexto internacional signado por el fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y la posibilidad de acceso a recursos humanos altamente capacitados provenientes de las derrotadas potencias del Eje, el gobierno peronista ensayó diversas respuestas frente a este boicot, que fueron desde la negociación hasta la violación sistemática de los acuerdos hemisféricos impulsados por Estados Unidos para controlar la emigración de nazis y colaboracionistas hacia el continente americano.

Although the studies on the first two presidencies of Juan Domingo Perón in Argentina (1946­1955) have an important development in the national historiography, this development is still extremely uneven on its objects of study. The policies in science and technology of the time, for instance, represented an important area of conflict within the international community that still requires a broader academic approach. The Second World War represented a turning point in the relations between the National States and the institutions of science and technology: planning, multiplied public resources and the objectives of “Homeland Security”, mark since then the agenda of the main powers of the Cold War. And for them, as well as for Argentina and other countries of the Third World, the science and technology transfers accomplished through the migration of scientists from the defeated Germany, became a priority. In the peronist Argentina, the potential of such a policy was in the political will to invest unprecedented resources in the area, as well as rejecting, whenever necessary, the United States foreign policy set to control these migrations. This (uneven) confrontation, however, would also mark the limits and costs of such a policy for the South American country.