author
Luis María Drago
1859–1921
Best remembered for the Drago Doctrine, he argued that powerful nations should not use armed force to collect debts from weaker states. The idea made this Argentine jurist and diplomat an enduring name in the history of international law.
1 Audiobook
Argentina, Legend and History
by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Carlos O. (Carlos Octavio) Bunge, Luis María Drago, Juana Manuela Gorriti, Pedro Goyena, Juan María Gutiérrez, Pedro Lacasa, Lucio Vicente López, Vicente Fidel López, Vicente López y Planes, Bartolomé Mitre, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Marcos Sastre
About the author
Born in Buenos Aires in 1859, Luis María Drago built a career that moved through journalism, law, politics, and diplomacy. He came from a prominent Argentine family and became known as a skilled public figure as well as a writer on legal and political questions.
He served in Argentina's Chamber of Deputies and later became minister of foreign affairs in 1902. During the Venezuelan debt crisis, he sent the note that gave rise to the Drago Doctrine, a principle arguing that public debts should not be collected through military intervention by foreign powers.
That stance gave him a lasting place in international legal history, especially in Latin America. He died in Buenos Aires in 1921, but his name remains closely tied to debates about sovereignty, debt, and the limits of great-power force.