As neoliberal policies continue to define the rules of the world economy, great signs of change are being witnessed in many progressive governments of Latin America that are rejecting the Washington Consensus in favour of democratic and people-oriented models of development based on greater regional integration, cooperation and economic justice.
The new "securitization" of
the NAFTA agreement is not about keeping the citizens of the United States,
Canada, and Mexico safe from harm, but simply protecting the neoliberal
economic model - with terrible implications for Mexican civil society, says
Laura Carlsen.
As Evo Morales, the Bolivian president, begins talks with rebel state governors in an attempt to end the political turmoil that paralyzed the nation last week, analysts are questioning the implications for the distribution of Bolivia's natural wealth - and the success of U.S. intervention in support for rightist elements and neoliberal economic policies.
The recent referendum in Bolivia casts doubt on the
claim that the Morales government has simply pursued its own, polarizing,
leftist agenda, without regard to the concerns of the broad electorate, says Mark Weisbrot.
Allied
to global agribusiness, the agrarian elite of Bolivia are fomenting a
coup as they struggle for control of the life-blood of the economy,
writes Roger Burbach.
Latin America is defined by a series of paradoxes that befuddle commentators, from the economy and popular support for leftist movements, to profits, growth and hunger, writes James Petras.
In Mexico City, the working poor are forced to confront the false
promises of globalization every day - as a race to the bottom that sees
only decreases in wages despite the soaring costs of food.
Beyond the sound and fury of its conquest of Iraq and campaign against Iran, the world's dominant power is waging a largely unreported war on another continent - Latin America.
