Latin America

Katz’s brilliant article about the current economic and social situation in Latin America is not an economic study in strict academic terms but an original and broadly documented analysis of the economic, social, and political dynamics of the continent.

The central thesis is that Latin America is crossed by two distinct and opposing projects: the commodities consensus, which is dominant in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and various other countries, and the alternative post-neoliberal project, which has its principal axis in the ALBA countries (Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, and others). Other countries, such as Brazil and Argentina, are in the middle of the road, and projects of integration such as Mercosur and the UNASUR are crossed by the conflict between the two models. The neoliberal model is based on agro-exports and mining, resulting in industrial regression, in close association with North American imperial interests. The post-neoliberal project seeks an anti-imperialist unity and advance of grassroots conquests, but it has still not achieved independence from extractivism. The Latin American process cannot be understood apart from the victorious insurrections against neoliberal governments that took place in the early twenty-first century in Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, and Ecuador.

Katz concludes that the ALBA governments can reach their progressive objectives only if they confront the ruling classes and overcome the primary-export model. The duality of the continent cannot last forever; ultimately capitalist oppression or a socialist alternative will predominate. This essay is a major contribution to understanding the complex transformation that Latin America is experiencing, and its appearance in Latin American Perspectives is most welcome.