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Former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias (“Culture Matters,” January/February 2011) accurately pinpoints the most vexing questions about Latin America: Why has the region not progressed more steadily and quickly over the years, and what has held it back? But the president’s answers are a generation out of date.
His notion that Latin Americans resist change because they “glorify the past” has not applied to Brazil for half a century. Nor is it true for Chile, Colombia, or Mexico—or even for Cuba or Venezuela. Sure, Mexico honors its Aztec ancestors, but China, Israel, and the United states also exalt their pasts. Venerating history is not the same as preserving the status quo.
Although he offers no causal connection, Arias could be right in fingering “absence of trust” as an impediment to progress. Surveys suggest that personal trust is in short supply in Latin America. But although many in the region are deeply unhappy with their governments, that hardly justifies Arias’ assertion that Latin Americans are “disillusioned with politics.” Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva left office this January with an approval rating above 85 percent. He was able to hand-pick his successor precisely because Brazilians trusted him. Similarly, the presidents of Chile and Colombia left office last year with 70 percent support. Arias himself ended his presidency in 2010 with an approval rating of almost 60 percent.
Complete article via Foreign Policy.
