A “Third Way” in Christ: The Project of the Corporation of Mexican Students (CEM) in Cold War Mexico

The 1950s saw the rise of a new generation of leftist, conservative, and Catholic students in Latin America that began calling for a unique form of hemispheric solidarity. Their efforts reflected concerns about momentous contemporary events that had a profound impact at their universities, like the anticolonial war in Algeria, the rise of military dictatorships in Guatemala, and the “iron fist” following the Hungarian insurrection. But these students also harkened back to the “arielista” language that characterized the first two decades of the twentieth century. Asserting their ideological positions during the incipient cold war, they participated throughout the 1950s in multiple international conferences to further their cause.