The Series   (return to series archive page)
Date	Part	Title
May 14	Part 1	Introduction: Power or credibility?
June 4	Part 2	Economics: Little relief in sight for poverty, debt and unemployment
July 16	Part 3	Development: Lasting change by helping the poor without paternalism
Aug. 13	Part 4	Immigration: Opportunity and challenge for Latin America's poor
Sept. 10	Part 5a Part 5b	Truth: an essential ingredient for reconciliation Reconciliation from the grass roots up
Sept. 24	Part 6a Part 6b Part 6c	Indigenous people: Fighting for rights after centuries of discrimination Health worker brings education back to his people Vanishing forests threaten indigenous groups
Oct. 8	Part 7	Women In Latin America: The gender gap kills
Oct. 29	Part 8	Children: Poverty cuts children’s chances for a future; interview with the Bishop of the Gangs
Nov. 12	Part 9a Part 9b Part 9c	Church: Base communities, once hope of church, now in disarray Less threatening lay movements favored by church leaders Priests in region grow more conservative
Nov.26	Part 10a Part 10b Part 10c	Looking ahead: Church groups seek new models of solidarity The Bishop of the Gangs: An interview with Rómulo Emiliani 'We can't just remain passive,' says Honduran cardinal

Only 28 percent of people polled in 17 Latin American countries said they were “satisfied with democracy.” All of the statistics of the region reflect increasing inequality. The connections between economic well-being and democracy are well established. In the relationship between the two lies Latin America’s future.

Throughout the 1970s and ’80s and into the last decade, Latin America stood at center stage for church and solidarity groups in the United States and figured prominently in U.S. foreign policy.

Yet as the region’s civil wars and dictatorships came to an end and crises arose elsewhere on the planet, interest in Latin America waned. The perception grew that the newly democratic, market-oriented Latin America had been “fixed.”

Trouble was, it simply wasn’t true. Nearly half the region’s population today remains in poverty and many of the rest see little chance for improving their standard of living, which is spurring emigration, especially to the United States. More than half the people in the region say they would accept an authoritarian government if it could solve their countries’ economic problems. That bodes ill for nascent democracies. And the deep inequalities that led to the devastating civil wars of recent decades are growing worse.

The picture isn’t totally bleak. Many community, grass-roots and church groups are rising to the challenges facing their countries; indigenous peoples are making their voices heard (and occasionally overthrowing presidents); and the growth of cross-border solidarity is challenging the worst ravages of globalization.

In this series, journalists Paul Jeffrey and Barbara Fraser explore these trends and the people behind them, uncovering both persistent, long-term problems and emerging changes. They interviewed more than 100 people -- including theologians, sociologists, economists, educators, women, children, church workers, indigenous leaders, politicians, bishops, experts on international policy, and grass-roots activists -- in 16 countries. They looked particularly for new voices, people who offered fresh perspectives on the forces shaping life throughout Latin America today. What follows is a view of Latin America and where it is headed through primarily Latin American eyes.