ABSTRACT
This introduction summarizes the economic situation in Latin America from the end of the 19th century to the present. At the top of the pre-war international economic system was Great Britain, a source of capital for the periphery. This situation began to change after the end of World War I, as the United States became the most important market for most Latin American countries. During World War II, Latin America lost most of its European markets, and it was then that the US companies (and the government itself) expanded enormously their influence throughout the continent. As a result of this situation of “dependence” coupled with corruption and lack of opportunities, many Latin American countries accumulated large external and internal debts, especially from the 1970s onwards, leading to a subsequent international economic crisis, highlighting their structural problems. The Latin American economic crisis temporarily coincided with the globalization process, deepening their fragile situation. At the beginning of the 21st century, the region’s total debt was double that of the early 1980s. Today, with the unexpected Covid-19 pandemic, Latin America has moved even further away from any possibility of economic growth. This introduction also analyzes the process of economic regionalism.
