Customer Reviews

Liberty for Latin America: How to Undo Five Hundred Years of State Oppression (Independent Studies in Political Economy)

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As someone who lived and worked in Latin America during one of the region's recent attempts at major economic reform, I found myself frequently mumbling "right on" while marking up my copy of Alvaro Vargas Llosa's "Liberty for Latin America." One of the most refreshing elements of the book is that the Peruvian journalist does not blame European colonizers for Latin America's seemingly insurmountable struggle to pull its population from poverty. He takes the root of the problem back to the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas, when the sacred nature of authority was first instilled in the population. People existed not as individuals, but as members of social strata with specific functions, with the number one function of everything being to support the group on top. This fit in perfectly with the kind of top-down hierarchy practiced by Iberian colonizers. Independence and revolution put governments in charge, with peasants working land that now belonged to their government as opposed to a big landowner. In one way or another, the state kept its fingers in every possible pie while the majority of the population remained infantilized, expecting the government provide for them, to be the biggest patrón of all.

What a relief not to have all the region's woes blamed on Spanish or Portuguese colonizers, and to recognize that many of the practices that still hold Latin America back were institutionalized long before Cortez dropped anchor. But while Vargas Llosa's analysis is intelligent and thought-provoking, his recommendations for reform don't fit with what he's just said. We've read how the population has been conditioned to expect a higher authority-God or the government-to take care of everything. People who feel they have no power are not going to know what to do with school vouchers or how to apply for credit when their squatter communities are granted legal status-two of his recommendations. Have school vouchers actually worked anywhere? So much wealth is concentrated in so few hands in the region that it is hard to imagine that the oligarchs will voluntarily give any of it up, and we've seen that revolution doesn't work, and outside prodding backfires . . .Even after reading Vargas Llosa's intelligent work, liberty for Latin America still seems a long way off.

Vargas Llosa's book is not about a perfect recipe. It is an honest insightful review of the Iberian world in the Western Hemisphere, well researched and documented by a Latin, who like his colleagues in arms, Carlos A. Montaner and Alberto Apuleyo are trying to tell the politicians, businessmen and others in the developed countries, to divest themselves of the pink glasses through which they, for decades have looked at Latin America. Even today, as I pore over the reviews on our countries (I am a Latin) I continue to feel disappointment in the intense focus given to growth rates, GDP, exports and imports and other matters that wind up creating economic charts and indices. Latin America cannot be, and any country for the same reason, assessed by simply reading its economic numbers. Liberty as the developed Western World understands it is not a reality in the Hemisphere and the book does a brilliant exercise in explaining why, though the steps to gaining it are only a suggestion and not a mandate as other reviews seem to conclude. This reading is a must for any Latin or foreigner needing to understand....why? Democracy is a hollow word in the region when the definition is placed against the realities found in most of our countries with some exceptional rays of hope. Latin America needs to be understood and its societies given the support wherever real democray and the support of human liberties can start to gain a solid, permanent foothold. The stability of the entire Hemisphere is at the end, what is at play.

I live in South America, and, de facto, I am a student of Latin America. Thus, for me Liberty for Latin America was a `must read'. In the four parts, Alvaro Vargas Llosa has written two distinct books - Social/Historical & Economic.

The first part of the text deals with the oppressive history of Latin America. For hundreds of years, Latin America political and economic power, have benefitted only a small elite. This oppressive and privilege status has a history that dates to the Spanish and Portuguese conquest, virtual slavery and mass exploitations under the guise of Catholic paternalism. The concentration of power, status and wealth has not ceased. Today, the struggles in Bolivia, Equador, Venezuela and other countries continue to `luncha' against the systems of privilaged-power that was established more than 500 years ago. Vargas Llosa's explains how the concentrated economic, political and social power, which sustain these oppressive inequalities, continues today. Excellent. He maintains that the enduring legacy of Iberian colonialism continues to sustain and serve the next generation of privileged leadership and that these systems of privilege and power have retarded Latin America's social and economic progress.

The other part of the text deals with his zealous evangelical promotion of `free-market, capitalists'. It is clear that he sees capitalism as the savior of the world'. Everything, should be privatized: education, health, and services of the state. Minimize government, maximize privatization.

His statements can make even those who support a free-market economy cringe. Yet, often in radical expressions, there are seeds of truth. In the end, it is about redistributing wealth.

One wishes that it were as simple as Alvaro Vargas Llosa's solutions. It would be wonderful if those in privileged power would cleanup the corruption (however, this is corruption which supports them). It would be wonderful if the oligarches would affirm the rights of the people (but these are the very people who will rise up and replace them). Yes, also there is a great need to empower the justice system (but of course this will be the very justice system that will prosecute those in power for their crimes against the people). In the words of Louie Armstrong, "what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance." I wish it were that simple.

Until a balance of power and wealth is found there will be more coups, state takeovers and capitalistic-sponsored privatization in Latin America. This book will engage you, and, in some degree may enrage you. If you are a student of Latin America history or economics this is a impressive book. Strongly recommended.

The recent passage of SB 1070 as of this writing focuses attention once again on immgration from south of the border that has cause cultural conflicts between the United States and all points south. The big question has to be asked-why are they coming up here to escape their native lands, including Mexico which promises in its Constitution a fair redistribution of wealth?

Mr. Llosa's 2005 treatise on liberty for Latin America introduces the reader to five marks of oppresion that infects most of countries south of the Rio Grande. Corporatism, state-mechanitlism, wealth transfer, privledge and political law have played a part in the lack of effective growth in the free market and freedom in general for countries like Mexico, Peru, Argentina and others. Mr. Llosa fits his thesis in a short 222-page presentation along with copious notes. However, there is no bibliography which would have lead the reader to in depth sources that could be suggested by the author. Unlike Canada and the U.S., Latin America's history has gone through a string of oligarchys dating back to pre-Columbian times and has never quite shaken off the centralism and cronyism that has plagued it to this day.

I found the book to be an interesting read, but it got dry at times with statistics and figures and wished that a little more history were mixed in. I recommend this book to those who are desirous to take a peak of what goes on the southern side of the border and why people are streaming over to seek a better life here.

I picked this book up at the library after seeing the author on C-Span Book TV. With the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas on the table for signing, this seemed like the right time to read a book like this. Since you can only have an item from the library for six weeks tops, I was hoping to read it in that time. I was expecting something engaging like Amy Chua's "World on Fire" or Fareed Zakaria's "Future of Freedom." Those are books that got me turning the pages because of their engaging commentaries on current political situations abroad. Vargas Llosa, however, looks at Latin America through a broad lens and his analysis is exclusively economical.

I think economists will like this book more than I did. It does address just about everything that has been debated over the Free Trade Agreement. It's just that it's boring for a person like me who didn't study econ and needs a little more explanation.