
Latin America must reexamine the regulation, speculative practices, extreme inequity, role of public policy, and many other very important underlying affairs of the tragic collapse of Wall Street. The region should immediately leave behind narrow economic policies, and get an idea of what basic components of social capital, like trust and ethics, weigh heavily on the economy. The time is now.
- Ten key answers, following the Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy
por Diego Fonseca


Wandering street vendors, self-employed workers, specialized workers, repairmen, small entrepreneurs, pensioners and even university professionals are faced with a paradoxical and hopeless reality in Latin America. They see that, no matter what they do, they remain mired in a life of poverty from which they cannot escape.
The annual purchasing power of the Hispanic community in the United States exceeds 830 billion dollars, but only 21 out of the 535 congressmen in both houses of Congress are Latino. The economic crisis, education and the failed immigration reform are among the complaints that Hispanics have for the next president. Their vote counts, and the principal candidates cannot avoid this fact: Latinos could define the elections.
The author says that there is a social democratic left in Latin America that has left behind schools of thought from the Sixties and ancient times in order to join the globalized world, without any messianic speeches. Michelle Bachelet’s Chilean government is exhibiting flexibility and pragmatism, and it has understood that foreign investment, political stability and economic liberalization are necessary for success.
Below you will learn what shortcomings Brazil currently faces with respect to governance. Furthermore, you will understand why its elite must immediately respond to the challenges that globalization is creating, which, in the case of Brazil, have to do with its capacity to lead the promotion of integration around Mercosur, says the author.
The Cuban regime, despite the few restrictions that have been lifted by President Raul Castro, remains in violation of the rights of its citizens, says the author. However, bloggers and freelance journalists like Yoani Sanchez, 33, embody a new generation of observers without biases. One should know who they are and what they think of the state of things in Cuba.
The diplomacy –especially in relation to economics– that China is implementing in Latin America will alter the region’s foreign economic relations at an accelerated pace, along with the geopolitical axes that had appeared immutable up until today. Meanwhile, the image of the United States and the European Union remains unchanged.
How does one explain that, in a world of increasingly expensive food and commodities, two agro-exporting countries replete with natural resources like Brazil and Argentina have such different economic and business outcomes?





