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Latin America should be a prosperous place. [image of world map]

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Its Southern Cone isn’t topped with delicious Chunky Monkey ice cream,

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but is industrialized. It’s also home to the sometimes-mighty [image of Latin America stamped industrialized]

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economic engines of Brazil and Mexico.

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But, sadly, something is rotten in the state of Simón Bolívar. [image of flags of Mexico and Brazil]

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The debt crisis of 40 years ago slapped this part of the Southern Hemisphere down,

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and it’s been struggling ever since. [a man being slapped]

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Of course, Latin America’s problems didn’t start in the 20th century.

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Oh, no. They started with that jerk, Christopher Columbus. [Christopher Columbus on a boat]

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The European colonizers who arrived in Columbus’ wake

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found a land teeming with gold, silver, Starbucks… well,

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that last one may have come later… But they ripped the treasure right out of the ground [a land with some slabs of gold, silver and Starbucks board]

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and sent it back across the Atlantic Ocean.

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In the 1800s and 1900s, multinational corporations like the United Fruit Company [a board with a sign - Property of United Fruit Company]

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exploited the heck out of local laborers, all for the sake of tasty bananas…

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and, you know, tasty moolah, too. [a man carrying bananas]

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The economic imbalances continue today.

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Do a Google search of “China and Latin America,” and you’ll find that China [a lady working on a computer]

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gets lots of raw materials from countries like Venezuela, Chile, and Brazil.

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But what exactly does Latin America get back from China? [an arrow pointing towards China]

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Well, many people argue, “Not enough.”

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And it’s always been like this; the money goes to companies and government officials, [image of note with Gracias! written on it]

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and everyone else, like the real people in the country, get the shaft.

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We tried to pay for a sandwich with a shaft once, and well, [2 men and a woman in a restaurant]

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it didn’t work out too well.

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So it’s no wonder that Latin America has the largest income inequality in the world.

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There’s poverty for the many, and Ferraris for the few. [3 men standing in front of building with broken window]

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And if economic problems weren’t enough drama for you,

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well then, stay tuned. Latin America also seethes with political instability. [a closed door with the sign]

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Corruption, corporate and foreign influence, and political violence mean

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that some Latin American democracies really aren’t all that democratic. [2 men and a soldier in a room]

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All of these things—economic imperialism, corruption,

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a disturbing tendency to, uh… disappear dissidents… Yeah, they’re all connected, [man in a boat in the middle of the sea]

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and they all suck. Throw the Latin American debt crisis on top of it,

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and you can see why the region is so troubled. [man talking]

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See, in the mid-20th century, developing Latin America borrowed

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from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, [image of World map showing Latin America]

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but then oil prices and interest rates skyrocketed, and Latin American countries

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had to borrow more and more money just to keep up with their payment plans. [a man talking to a woman]

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By the 1980s, the debts were too much to pay off, and it was like a really sick

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and twisted game of Monopoly. Or, well just… like a game of Monopoly.

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The IMF was willing to help out, so long as the countries of Latin America [2 men talking to each other]

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agreed to super stringent terms. People who’d always felt like foreign governments

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had way too much power in their countries now really felt that way. [2 men and a woman talking]

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These same people were also unemployed, impoverished,

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and dabbling in criminal activity just to make ends meet. [a police car stopping a man running away with bananas]

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So, how do we finally get Latin America on the up and up?

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Well, with such a toxic mix of problems, there’s no single solution that’ll fit the bill.

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Free trade, multinational investment, and small-scale development [3 men and a woman standing in front of a building with broken window]

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have all been kicked around as possible ways to overcome Latin America’s troubles,

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and the last decade has been pretty good for the region. [man hitting a goal]

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But in a place where so much has gone so wrong for so long,

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a return to disaster is… well, sadly, always a possibility.

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