Just wanted to add...

The present move towards socialism in Latin America is nothing at all like the socialism of the 1930's. All they really want is something similar to what we have here in Canada with variations according to local needs. This anti-Chavez, anti-socialist backlash you hear from the western media is nothing more than Wall Street throwing a hissy fit over losing their monopoly in the region.

The real risk to foreign capital is that of being confused with the above pack of thieves, as we know all too well from our experience in Ecuador. This confusion is further aggravated by earnest, well-meaning outsiders who think they know what's best for Latin America, as if somehow Latinos couldn't figure that out for themselves. During the Nicaraguan Revolution we called them "Sandalistas" - their major contribution being to burden an already over-stressed health-care system when they came down with some tropical disease while working heroically alongside "The People."

Message to all would-be world changers: Stay home and just send money. And for God's sake, stop interfering with legitimate foreign investment. There's nothing wrong with getting rich if you do it ethically, in fact according to Deng Xiaoping, it can even be glorious!

ebear