Lanterna Rally

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Published: 1992

Total Pages: 12

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The 1980's in Latin America has often been called the "lost decade." It was a decade which mixed political success (the restoration of democratic governments in most of the hemisphere) with economic failure, most nobably the debt crisis. As a result, the new democratic governments, so fulsomely praised in Washington and for which the Reagan and Bush administrations often took credit, stand imperiled. Closer to home, the economic problems of Latin America costs the U.S. markets, trade and investment opportunities. Although it gradually became clear during the decade that more was needed, the new democratic leaders made important progress in coping with the multiple crises and wrought profound changes in how Latin America viewed and conducted its economic relations. First, they oversaw a sharp shift in trade and development policy from previous inward-looking policies to greater participation in the global economy. This shift, from the import-substitution policies of the past to a renewed drive to increase exports, was accompanied by growing regionalism.