Exceptions to Urban Bias in Latin America:

This essay speculates on the structural conditions under which the peasantry in Latin America is able to prosper. Contemporary Latin American states invariably meddle in agricultural markets. Despite government affirmations to the contrary, peasants ordinarily do not benefit from state intervention in the agricultural sector. Howeverj there are two exceptions to this pattern in Latin America, and surprisingly they are the cases which ideologically bracket the political spectrum in the region – Cuba and Costa Rica. These two cases suggest that the proclivity towards urban bias can be thwarted by the socialist ideology of a well-ensconced and politically invulnerable elite, such as in Cuba, or by a vigorous democratic regime, such as Costa Rica.