Globalization is a passionate topic in Latin America today.

Globalization continues to be a passionately debated topic in Latin America. In recent years, leftist and socialist movements have swept through many countries. Since the election of Hugo Chávez as Venezuela's president in 1998, a wave of politicians in the region have won elections based on leftist platforms, including Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil in 2002, Néstor Kirchner in Argentina in 2003, Tabaré Vásquez in Uruguay in 2004; 2006 saw victories at the ballot box for Evo Morales in Bolivia, Michelle Bachelet in Chile, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, and the re-elections of Chávez in Venezuela and Lula in Brazil.

The political trend in the region represents a broad turn away from the pro-globalization economic reforms that were dominant in political agendas during the 1990s. Over that decade, policies designed to open markets and increase trade liberalization did not deliver on reducing income inequality. Instead, several economic crises stalled economic growth, thereby deepening poverty levels. The result has been the rise of populist movements that blame global capitalism for the financial setbacks and the greater volatility in economic life.

In Venezuela, Hugo Chávez is calling for "alter-globalization" through pan-Latin American cooperation in trade negotiations with the rest of the world, and particularly with the United States. His main supporters have been Fidel Castro in Cuba and Morales in Bolivia. Shortly after Morales came to power in January 2006, he renegotiated contracts with foreign energy companies to enhance government revenues in the lucrative oil and gas industry.

The political trend in the region represents a broad turn away from the pro-globalization economic reforms that were dominant in political agendas during the 1990s.

Nevertheless, there is some question as to how far any populist movement can sway from globalization. Peru and Colombia have recently signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with the US that are awaiting ratification by the U.S. Congress. Lula in Brazil and Bachelet in Chile remain committed to open market economics despite being swept into power by populist sentiment.

Other leftist leaders in Latin America achieved political power on populist platforms, but their attitudes toward market liberalization are varied. The process of globalization for Latin America seems inevitable and the policy debate focuses instead on how it will be shaped in coming years. Here, we present assorted views from political, academic, and social leaders in What Latin America Thinks About Globalization. We also include results from a public opinion survey on globalization conducted in 13 Latin American countries.

Ernesto Zedillo, Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and former President of Mexico:

"Globalization is providing the world with not only greater economic opportunities but also a remarkable resilience to events that in the past would have proven highly disruptive. If you consider recent regional wars, terrorism, the skyrocketing prices of oil and other commodities, and the laxity in the fiscal and monetary policies of some of the major economies, you may conclude that it's only through the globalization of the market economy that we've been able to sail through such stormy waters."

Jorge Castañeda, former Foreign Minister of Mexico:

"I don't think globalism is reversible, but I certainly think it allows great leeway in terms of what happens in the broad parameters of globalization, that not everything is predetermined. You can have China as part of globalization and New Zealand as part of globalization. The two nations are equally inserted into the global economy and, by the way, equally successful. They are as different as you can imagine in terms of the way their economies are organized, their societies are organized, their size and everything else; [yet] they're both part of globalization. The specific policies that are followed by the WTO or the World Bank or the IMF can be of one type or of another type. The World Bank comes and goes constantly, not only between its different policies but different interpretations by different groups within the Bank. So there is much greater leeway within globalization than is generally thought to be the case."

Hernando de Soto, President of Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) in Peru:

Hernando de Soto, President of Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) in Peru: "Everybody wants to globalize."

"What we've just got to make sure of is that globalization also includes the underclasses. They have a lot to gain from it as well. But if I go with you through the obstacles that somebody that's poor has to go through to get an export license, or an import license, or be able to put together the kind of paper that'll allow you to globalize, you'll find out that it's a pretty exclusive club, those who can globalize. It's a club made of those people and places like where I come from, Lima, that know how to deal with the law firms, that know how to lobby for legislation that helps some, but doesn't help somebody else. In other words, a system of capitalism for only a few, because there's a legal apartheid that blocks the majority from coming in. Everybody wants to globalize."

Domingo Cavallo, former Economy Minister of Argentina:

"I believe that Argentina and the Latin American nations should not manically swing from ‘globalization love' to ‘globalization hate' and cut themselves off from the rest of the world. I am convinced that to avoid further frustration, Latin America needs to find, through the multilateral system or through hemispheric integration, the same sort of institutional anchoring that emerging European countries have in entering the European Union. The phenomenon of convergence that is taking place in Europe is mainly explained by the existence of a monetary and financial system that permits stable cross-border capital movements in favor of less developed countries for long periods of time."

"But I think that once a particular government, like this new government in Argentina, starts to work to find solutions for the problems, it immediately realizes that closing up the economy only aggravates the problems, particularly if it closes investment opportunities, because most of the investment opportunities nowadays are related to the global markets more than to the very small, local market, particularly the investment opportunities in those sectors of the economy that generate productivity increases, which are very important for making growth sustainable in an economy. So even though the speeches, the political discourses may be in the direction of closing the economies as a consequence of the crises which are associated with globalization and the previous process of opening up, in a few years I think governments, even those that are more to the left, will come to the conclusion that they have to preserve [an open] economy and try to increase foreign trade, and particularly to create a good environment for investment--domestic and foreign investment--into the country."

Moisés Naim, editor of Foreign Policy magazine and former Minister of Trade and Industry for Venezuela:

"It's very important to de-link globalization from trade. Trade is one aspect of globalization but 9/11 was, as I mentioned, globalization; we have cultural and social globalization. The world is being connected not just by trade; ideas, and information and crime and terrorism are also connecting the world."

Domingo Cavallo, former Economy Minister of Argentina: "Latin America needs to find, through the multilateral system or through hemispheric integration, the same sort of institutional anchoring that emerging European countries have in entering the European Union."

"One of the problems of globalization is that it's creating demands at a faster pace than the capacity of any institution, any human institution, and in fact the capacity of any human being, to digest, to understand, and react effectively. So if even individually we have a hard time coping and reacting to the demands of globalization, at a more global level, [asking] different governments to get together and come up with an institution charged with dealing with these very complex new problems, unprecedented problems, is going to be very, very hard. That is one of the underbellies of globalization. It is requiring [new] institutions at a faster pace than we are capable of creating effective institutions. "

Rafael Correa, President-Elect of Ecuador:

"I think dollarization was the biggest economic error this country has ever committed."

"If country risk goes up because of speculators worrying over our ability to pay the debt, I don't care. The country risk I care about is children suffering."

"We are going to begin to review the contracts with oil companies. We cannot permit that they take four of each five barrels and leave us one."

Sara Larraín, Coordinator of the Chilean Ecological Action Network (RENACE):

"Chilean economic competition is based on low wages, the export of natural resources and the unequal distribution of wealth. Chile has the greatest gap between the rich and the poor after Brazil. The advocates of globalization as we know it emphasize economic growth. But growth itself is no guarantee that people also benefit from that growth."

"It is often thought that there are only two power blocks in the world: international politics, and international business. But there is also the people's power, and it's increasing every day. The only problem now is that that power is led by the fact that we are against the ongoing globalization process. But ultimately, it is not enough just to say 'no.' The challenge is to develop a clear alternative vision. It is not about being against somebody else's vision, but about being for our own vision."

Carlos Fuentes, Mexican writer:

"The global economy is a lot like Mt Everest—impossible to move and therefore here to stay. The question is how to climb it."

Carlos Fuentes, Mexican writer: "We have to realize that the First and the Third are really one world, united by global economic integration."

"We have to realize that the First and the Third are really one world, united by global economic integration."

"Capital is moved around the world in a day, but this freedom is not accompanied by a comparable free movement of workers," the author stated. "Things are free to move; people are not."

"If international organizations aren't perfect, our duty is to make them better, not throw them into the trash can."

Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian-Spanish writer:

"Without the globalization of legality and liberty, economic globalization presents a serious danger for the future of civilization -- and, above all, for the planetary ecology. The great powers have a moral obligation to promote democratic processes in the developing world. They also have a practical obligation. With the evaporation of borders, the greatest guarantee that economic forces will benefit all people is to ensure that throughout the world, economic life flows within the limits of liberty and competition, and is guided by the incentives, rights, and restraints imposed by democratic society."

"Even though I don't think that this cultural argument against globalization is valid, we must accept that at the bottom of it there is an unquestionable truth. The world during the next century will be less colorful and picturesque than the one we have left behind. Local fêtes, dress, customs, ceremonies, rites and beliefs that in the past have contributed to the rich panoply of human folkloric and ethnological variety, are fading away or becoming the preserve of minority and isolated groups, whilst, the bulk of society abandons them, adopting more practical habits better suited to our times. This is a process that to a greater or a lesser degree is experienced by all countries of the globe, not due to globalization but to the modernization that eventually causes globalization. This phenomenon can be regretted and we can feel nostalgia for the eclipse of tradition and past ways of life that appear, in our eyes from the comfort of our present situation, attractive, original and colorful. This erosion is, nevertheless, in my view, unavoidable.

Latin American public opinion, Barómetro Iberoamericano 2006 - percentage of people surveyed who said globalization had had a positive impact on their country:

• Chile - 80%
• Dominican Republic - 78%
• Brazil - 72%
• Guatemala - 64%
• Peru - 61%
• Colombia - 56%
• Venezuela - 54%
• Costa Rica - 52%
• Panama - 47%
• Mexico - 43%
• Ecuador - 40%
• Bolivia - 38%
• Argentina - 30%

Reprinted with permission from Globalization101.org, a project of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. To view the original article click here, (visited on 1/17/07).

To read another Global Envision article regarding world opinion about globalization, see International Perspectives on Globalization.



Return to top