Latin America: The Vision of its Leaders

“Latin America: The Vision of its Leaders” is the result of an intense and dedicated reflection on the region's main present and future challenges in six thematic areas: poverty and inequality, growth and productivity, environment, democracy, regional integration, and international insertion.

The book, which was elaborated at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics (LSE), presents a plural and balanced vision of Latin America through a series of 30 interviews conducted by the author with leaders of the region (presidents, former presidents, ministers of state, presidents of multilateral and international organizations, and renowned journalists). The book also includes the participation of 106 personalities with 55 articles written especially for this volume by leading academics, experts, and authorities.

The royalties from the book were donated by the author to the “Colombianitos Foundation,” which works for girls and boys in vulnerable situations, through education and sports.

To learn more, join us in a vivid conversation about the present and future challenges of Latin American to promote its democracy, economic development, and social inclusion.

Select Quotes

Eddy Acevedo

Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the President and CEO, Wilson Center

"Right now Venezuela is the largest humanitarian, refugee, and migration crisis around the world."

"When we had the opportunity to speak to the migrants [passing through the Darien region], we asked them one very simple question: 'Why are you leaving Venezuela?' and all of them gave the same answer which was Maduro."

Rebecca Bill Chavez

"Instead of focusing on the ideology of a government--whether or not it's conservative, or whether it's on the left or the right--we should really be focusing on where it is on the liberal democracy continuum.  I think that should be what's really driving US policy."

"This is not just a region of challenges.  This is a region of opportunities."

H.E. Iván Duque Márquez

Chair and Distinguished Fellow, Iván Duque Center for Prosperity and Freedom, Wilson Center

President of the Republic of Colombia (2018-2022) 

"When we asked about what was the forecast for Latin America, many people were very gloomy.  It's a noisy region.  It's a region with a lot of political unrest.  It's a region where there's permanent corruption scandals, [but] when we look at the history of Latin America at least in the last 40 years, what we have seen is the fastest expansion ever of the middle class in the region.  We have reached the highest levels of coverage in education and health, the highest numbers of investment in critical infrastructure, the highest levels of integration with the rest of the world in terms of exports and investment, and when we look at the human development index in terms of the reduction of debts at birth or the expansion of the lifecycle, we have reached record levels.  I think we have to celebrate that, because if we don't celebrate it we're going to keep opening the opportunity of those who love to make politics on the gloomy narrative in order to demolish many of the institutions and the conquests we have achieved, but we definitely also have to look at the challenges."

Carlos Felipe Jaramillo

Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, World Bank

"Low productivity growth I would say [happens for] two reasons.  Number one is stagnated technology and number two is skills/education. "

"Why is it that Latin America companies are laggards in technology and productivity?...There's no real competition in most of our markets."

"We are the most unequal region and a big chunk of it is because the kids go to public schools that are very bad in quality.  The positive side of this story is that this can be fixed."

Andrés Rugeles

Associate Member, University of Oxford

"We find ourselves immersed in a global scenario that resembles an endless hurricane with immeasurable speeds.  Uncertainty seems to be the new normal."

"Latin America has the potential to become a region of solutions given it's enormous wealth."

Juan Gabriel Váldes

Ambassador of Chile to the United States

"During the past decade the region has not advances but rather regressed in terms of regional integration...The decisive factor in this failure has been the belief that integration requires an ideological perspective, that dialogue is only possible if we share the same convictions."

"The convergence of governments of different ideological orientations in support of the Venezuelan cause demonstrates that our dialogue towards more integration is possible, and could go well beyond our shared responsibilities simply to address disasters and climate threats."