The New Open Veins of Latin America: Gold, Oil, and Avocados

Author: Irene Hernández Velasco, special for BBC Mundo

Date: June 11, 2020

Introduction

• 50 years of "Open Veins of Latin America"
  • Essay by Eduardo Galeano denouncing the plundering of natural resources.
  • Inspired leftist leaders like Lula, Evo Morales, Rafael Correa, and Hugo Chávez.
• Galeano and the curse of natural resources
  • "We Latin Americans are poor because the ground we tread is rich."

Andy Robinson: "Gold, Oil, and Avocados"

• British journalist revisiting Galeano's travels.
• Book "Gold, Oil, and Avocados" analyzes the new wealth of Latin America.
• Resources like coltan, oil, lithium, soy, niobium, and avocados.

New Raw Materials in Latin America

• Brazil: largest producer of soy, meat, and chicken.
• Minerals: niobium and coltan with geopolitical value.
• Lithium: its role in the coup in Bolivia.

Economic Challenges

• They failed to break the dependency on raw material exports.
• Impact of price volatility.

Working Conditions and Environment

• Tough conditions for miners and communities affected by deforestation.
• Destruction of the rainforest and displacement of peasant communities.

Impact of Coronavirus

• Health and economic crisis intensifies social inequalities.
• Negative effects on leftist governments and their policies.

Robinson's Conclusions

• Need to defeat neoliberalism and rethink the economic model.
• Proposal for redistribution based on alternative energies and small businesses.