Arias said most of Latin America's troubles are their own fault. That Latin America started out with the same advantages as Canada and the U.S. but accomplished dramatically less with them. Let me share with you some samples from his speech:
Fifty years ago, Mexico was richer than Portugal. In 1950, a country such as Brazil had a higher per capita income than that of South Korea. Sixty years ago, Honduras had more riches per capita than Singapore, and today Singapore – in something like 35 or 40 years – is a country with $40,000 annual income per person. Well, we Latin Americans did something wrong.He concludes:
In 1950 each American citizen was four times richer than a Latin American citizen. Today, an American citizen is 10, 15 or 20 times richer than a Latin American. That is not the fault of the United States, it’s our fault.Yes, the countries of Latin America are responsible for their outcomes. Maybe this can be attributed to the legacy of Iberian (Spanish and Portuguese) colonial culture as opposed to the British colonial culture which became the basis for Canada and the United States. Culture matters, and (warning: non-PC thought ahead) not all cultures are equally useful at achieving societal economic success.
Go read the entire, short text of President Arias' remarks; he gets it.
