Do your agree with this analysis? What could have been added? Hope you all enjoyed the new video!

“These countries aren’t poor. These countries are rich! Only the people are poor! They’re not underdeveloped, they’re overexploited!” - Michael Parenti

In my country (Honduras), we celebrate independence on September 15. At schools we are always told that: "we didn't really got independence, we only changed from European masters to local ones" and that holds true

Well done! Having lived in several Latin American countries I’ve witnessed a lot of the unfortunate instances you talk about. Societies have huge hurdles to conquer to get to a more just society. It’s truly tragic. Keep up the great work!

The core explanation here is correct. But, in modern Latin America you also need to consider what foreign countries gain from Latin America’s underdevelopment. Consider for example the relationship between the US, Colombia and Panama in the early 20th century and during the Cold War. The independence of Panama from Colombia came from US interest, America benefited from Colombia’s unstable government and helped instigating political conflicts to build the Panama Canal and gain control over the new country. And during the Cold War, it is quite obvious the US was involved in the assassination of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, which led up to Colombia’s ongoing civil war (all because the US was not interested in the Conservative Party losing power over Colombia, while the USSR was doing its part in Cuba and Argentina).

As a Latin American, who has both lived my entire life in Latin America, and has studied the history of all the countries that compose it. I can tell you that the main factor in the lack of development is either Civil War and internal conflicts for power or rampant corruption and violation of the resources and the state.

as a latin american, and as others have expressed in these comments I'd also agree to point the finger at corruption. It's so embedded into the culture and in all socio-economic groups that it feels depressingly like a battle that can't be won

This was so insightful! Thank you!

Huh, interesting. Thank you for the insightful information. Good video!

In the course of my engineering career I made many trips from the US to our factory in Mexico. My impression of the Mexican people was that they loved life and were very close to their families and friends, but a legacy of weak and corrupt governments had given them little motivation to trust authorities or respect laws. In the factory, this manifested itself as something less than strict reverence for manufacturing procedures, and our "fixes" tended to break down as soon as we flew home. Corporate finally threw in the towel and moved the whole thing overseas.

During my first stint of working in Peru, a Peruvian told me more or less to expect Peruvians to try and trick you or take advantage of you. He said it was nothing personal, just the way things are in Peru. I worked there 3 years and at the end of the year one of the big papers would ask Peruvians what they like and dislike about their country, the #1 response for what they disliked was always Corruption!

Money invested is far better than money saved, when you invest it gives you the opportunity to increase your financial worth.

Thank you for this very informative video sir

The biggest problem is corruption. I lived in Brazil for several years. Brazil is a rich country, as far as resources go. But every politician who rises to power does so solely to build wealth. A guy who was something like a school teacher a few years prior to taking a relatively influential politician position, that person would be a millionaire. Paraguay is a great example of this as well.

I'm really glad more people are looking at the absolute genius and masterpiece of a book, Why Nations Fail. Nations do not get rich from their position in the world, they get rich from their economic bodies and political institutions.

Great video, well researched. Outstanding analysis of private property rights. One point I'd add is that the Spanish model reflected the top down Catholic Church while the American model reflected the decentralized Calvinist/Puritan Church and moderately decentralized Anglican Church. Colonization took place at the same time as the Reformation, which in many ways was a reflection of governance as it was theology. There was no way the Spanish were going to allow others access to land or capital, it was a completely foreign concept to them at the time. New England town meetings, for example, were a result of a decentralized church most belonged to, and would never have happened under Spanish rule.

I live in both nogales , born in Nogales Arizona but raised in Nogales Sonora I can see what you say , it is impactful how each side is so diferent

As a latin American, I totally agree and finger to the corruption. On our schools we're not entitled to think by ourselves or becoming the change. We're raised in order to be employees from the world, educated to become servants of someone else... It's such a shame we've been suffering for so many years.

The history of latin America is so complex that it is borderline impossible to explain within one video. They are so many tangent and factors that play a role on why we are what we are today, not just european colonial history Nevertheless, this video serves as a decent introduction. Well done mate

Why Nations Fail is a book that gave me the root understanding of how institutions with falt foundations will ultimately crash and fail. Amazing book, amazing video.

Great explanation.

Im from Argentina, and i only disagree in one detail only: i think it became cultural too. Let me explain breefly (and poorly provably because i lack of the terminology to make it short 🤣) The corruption of the politicians and state institutions feeds the untrust of the worker/popular class in the system, so no one respect the rules or avoid them. Like you explained, having weak and corrupted goverments over time is the key, because the society dont trust the goverment and now it begis to feed the corruption, and the cycle goes on... It became cultural... 100%

I´m a Canadian who has been living in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the past 20 years. Honestly I can say that corruption on many levels is tolerated here much more than in Canada or the U.S.

This really made me wonder how the world would be today if Europe hadn't went the route of Colonialism and instead had stuck to mutual beneficial trading. Europe would probably still have gotten rich by it.

The only thing I would add to this is that general population back in Europe was just as exploited by the absolute monarchies of the time. That's why everybody was so happy to travel at the end of the world for a promise of some land. It's a detail everybody seems to forget these days.

It's also notable that Argentina and Brazil were wealthiest at the turn of the 20th century when like the U.S., Argentina encouraged European migrants to settle sparsely populated lands. Mexico tried to do this within sparsely populated Mexican territories in the north shortly after independence--mainly from German and U.S. settler migrants. However as history shows they were cut off early from this when American settlers rebelled in Texas. All the German settlers that settled in the southwest ended up becoming Americans rather than Mexicans.

Three reasons from someone that lived, studied and worked in the U.S. half of my life and then came back to my latin american country thinking things are the same and that I could start a bussiness and live the rest of my life here : corruption (everyone is corrupt from the traffic cop to the biggest judge), burocracy (all laws can be twisted against you and burocrats are only extortionists that will only help you for money) and cheap populism that make it impossible to plan ahead and give the normal people no way to defend yourself and your property from corrupt authorities (no sense of private property, no respect for long term contratcs or agreements, you can start a bussiness today with a set of rules and they will change them tomorrow), if you are a latino living in the U.S. or the E.U. do not come back

Thanks A Million I got New KZfaq Channel from this video to learn more knowledge and it will improve myself.

I am from India and have analyzed the politics for a long time. The single most reason of a country being underdeveloped has to do with level of education and culture of the people. In India nepotism is in the culture, then extreme religiosity which decreases the critical thinking capacity of people. Fault mostly lie with people in most of the cases, not governments. Governments do just what people want them to do. There are some exceptions, like dictatorships, but even there the fault usually lies with the people who made the conditions for dictatorship conducive.

I’m a little disappointed here because this video left out the US as something of an innocent bystander to Latin America’s demise. Plenty of examples exist regarding incentivizing/forcing disenfranchisement. The term ‘banana republics’ is no accident, and the northern neighbor’s demand for drugs continues to stymie growth in other areas. To be clear, I’m not saying all fault lies with the US or even Canada, but there have been interferences in the progress of Latin America, when this did not align with the interests of its Northern Neighbors.

I've been to Potosi in Bolivia. For me it was one of the most eye opening places in South America. A city built around this silver mine living and working around it. Such an inequality is seen here. Just horrific.

That "banking revolution" in the US was not a good thing. The US banking system didn't allow branch banking, making each bank extremely vulnerable to local economic problems. England and Canada had much sounder banking systems in the late 19th century, and Canada still does.

Great research. The pronunciations are painful, but it's a solid assessment. I think one has to always factor the United States and the [continued] exploitation of labor (to our gain). With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) the gap in economic disparity is about to become an unfixable and proverbial gulf.

The main flaw in this presentation is the omission of the American South, which was an extractive system based on slavery more similar to the Carribean or Latin America then to the Northern states. That these states remain poorer and with higher crime rates however reinforces his point.

As an Ecuadorian I’ve seen the corruption first hand my dad got stopped by the police for having too many people in the car. And my dad understands how the police and people with power work my dad offered him 10 dollars to let us go and the cops said no… make it 20 for my buddy too and my dad did so. When they finished my dad came back and said that what I just saw was corruption first hand and politicians do it too but with thousands of dollars.

You forgot to mention how the United States established dictatorships in Latin America, or how the country has benefited from wars, for example.

Greed and corruption ,will never change.

Everyone should read "Why Nations Fail" to get a grip on this topic. I see you have utilized some points from the book in the video as well. Good job! Please continue making videos on topics such as this which get overlooked so often by most youtubers.

This is straight from the book, "Why nations fail". It is an excellent read. Full of examples of prosperous states that failed and the reasons behind it.

I work in insurance and the complexity around just insurance terms makes it a nightmare for people to navigate simply what is in network and out of network. Add to that insurance companies lie to patients and recently the exchange/Obamacare plans steal patient information and enroll them in coverage with patient consent or awareness. This is thousands of dollars in theft from the federal per patient and it is done with impunity.

As a Spaniard I say that they did not know how to govern themselves. Is not a race issue. For example Argentina and Costa Rica are mostly spanish white. Although to Americans only anglos/saxons are the only whites.

The video really started strong and the more distant past was quite interesting but I was wondering why there is no mention of US invasions, coups and boycotts in South America since mid 20th Century? That’s probably a major reason why some of the countries couldn’t catch up over the past ~80 years.

One of the things that has made Western countries so successful is a strong adherence to Contract Law. If someone doesn't keep their word to me they've agreed to in writing, I can take them to court and force them to keep their word using the rule of law. Literally nothing happens in business in the US without a signed contract, and the courts are aggressive in enforcing the agreements. This makes a huge difference when it applies across an entire culture and economy. The fear of being sued is a strong motivator in the Western business world.

Spain took so much back that it lowered the value of their currency, and still, 500 years later, they still feel it.

I’d have liked this video to include more content about the incredible amount of coups and dictators throughout Latin America. These dictators all read the same playbook and all of them did everything to silence dissent eliminate rivals and consolidate their power. You can look at the 20th and 21st centuries so to see that countries (such as Venezuela) get a government that implements freer markets and courts foreign investment. (And I feel like the foreign investment is so crucial. I look at it very clinically and every country is ranked bye how friendly it is to do business in. With all the corruption and instability that is rampant in Latin America why would I choose that level of risk to my business when I could just take my business to another country?). Only to see that government lose power and a dictator/strong man/authoritarian government come in and run that economic train right off of the rails. These governments then will place unqualified people to run organizations that they have privatized. The cycle continues to repeat itself. It really gives me an appreciation for the safeguards that the US has put in place such as an electoral property, property rights, and free elections. Until you become a scholar of the rest of the world you’ll never appreciate what you have as an American.

Costa Rica is an important exception to the rule of Latin American poverty & dictatorships - it has had a relatively stable democracy and prosperous economy. According to Wikipedia the lack of native Indian labor meant the encomienda system with large plantations didn't take root in Costa Rica. It became a province of small landholders working the land on their own, much like the northern American colonies.

One of my co-workers (Venezuelan Immigrant) said that one of the biggest problems of South American is that anytime economic or developmental progress happens it is quickly devoured by corrupt politicians, criminal overlords, or foreign corporations. He himself fled to the states because his home town was being taken over by a violent gang demanding tribute from businesses. The situation got so bad that many businesses and civil services closed down, turning daily life into a constant search for food and shelter for many people. Police were doing nothing about it because they were payed to act as body guards for the few local wealthy individuals.

This was a great video. If you are interested in the evolution of Latin America through the lense of exploitation of its resources, I highly recommend ‘Open Veins of Latin America’

because the U.S.A likes it that way. there, saved y'all 22 minutes.

As a Chilean (south-western part of Latin America for those who don't know where we it is), this hits straight to heart... so many times I've seen my country (and neighbors, like Argentina, Perú or Bolvia) fall into the ideology of demagogic leaders trying to impose their view of the land, where power is not to be resided in the people for free elections, but rather used by charismatic leaders that influence the masses for personal benefit. Never could I find a more accurate explanation to it, than what I'm hearing here right now.

In a nutshell the latin-american colonies were build on exploitation, not self-sufficiency.

Bro casually skips over the entire revolutionary war and jumps right into the Declaration of Independence

I think Uruguay is the outlier among Latin American countries. It is small, but it performs well above their weight class.

One correction I'd make is the statement that latin American has better geography than the USA. This is fairly false as Latin America's geography actually sucks. It's got a massive rainforest that once cleared isn't even all that good for farming (still better than nothing) massive geography barriers like the Amazon river and differences between its elevations. Meanwhile the us has the largest navigable water way in the world right on top of some of the best agricultural land

i loved this video. it sums up what i have learned in my history lessons. i'm both brazilian and venezuelan, and i have lived on both countries, i have seen this culture of corruption and inequality that keeps us from moving forward. i hope that, like many asian countries the past decades, in the next coming years latin america will stabilize, grow and protect our resources and populations responsibly. not using the economic riches to benefit only those in power.

1:27 that’s not Nogales, that’s Tijuana on the right and San Diego on the left..

Your video made a correct approach about the different types of colonization and their respective consequences. However, there is no mention of the overthrow of Latin American governments sponsored by the United States during the 20th century. I am Brazilian and I say that, if there had not been the military dictatorship that began in 1964, Brazil would be on another level. Remember, it was never in the interests of the great powers of the northern hemisphere for the commodity rich countries of the southern hemisphere to become great industrial powers. There is always the boycott.

This guy deserves more views

Corruption and that's it. Almost all Latin Americans would say the same.

Socialism is the problem in south America. One might argue that China is the biggest communism/socialism country, nut economically last 40 years they are operating as capitalism.

Probably worth pointing out that in 1900 several South American nations were actually quite wealthy relative the rest of the world, so for some countries the question should be why they fell behind

Fascinating. Great work! So interesting that the reason South America today has worse political and economic insitutuions traces back to the fact they were MORE advanced when the Spanish arrived and threfore easier to take over and control.

Europe is rich, Africa is poor. Northern Europe is rich, southern Europe is relatively poor.

I visited Nogales 20+ years ago, both sides, and remember the stark contrast. There were thousands of corrugated, steel shanties up and down a hillside. Children were selling chicklet gum to visitors. It was eye opening. Funnily enough, I'm from St. Louis, the city you compared Nogales to. Although, I'm in one of the counties, which is much safer.

Man, let me translate this video to Spanish to make it available/understandable to Latin American people. It is extremely educational, and perhaps two or three of us could learn from it. Great job btw.

Nice explanation, im fron mexico and i agree whit u

As a Latin American born, "yes, yes and yes" to corruption assertions, sadly.

Once again you are spot on sir. Please keep up the great work. You are one of the only people to piece together facts, to lay out the"why" as acurately as possible, all without emotional or political diatribe.

Because Of The Lack Of Quality Among People +The Systems, Architectures In Place!!

never thought i would see my hometown of Nogales be in a video like this damn

I would like to add that in Mexico we had a 1 party government for almost 70 years till year 2000, although even if we had in recent years a 2 party sistem, the decisions were already made by the clients of these 2 party's so it didn't matter if the red party or the blue party won, they were essentially the same. It seems like here in Mexico and all of Latin America we have a lot of work to do to undo a lot of the damage that has been done to us over the years. And just a reminder that the us had an interest to keep all of Latin America poor so we could be the backyard of the us. Search for the so called "Banana Republic" and the "Operation Condor". There have been somewhere between 60 to 70 interventions from the us in Latin America in the last century.

Thank you so much for the video. As a Brazilian history teacher I’ll give details on Brazil and how it differs from the rest of Latin America. 1) different from Spanish colonies with lots of Indians to explore, our Indians were kind of sparse and primitive (like in North America). So the Portuguese colonizers brought African Slaves (10 times more than the USA. In fact, black slavery was the backbone of our society). At least northeast Brazil was this way. Southern Brazil was poorer. It was inhabited by frontiersmen known as “bandeirantes”. They were like the Brazilian version of Cossacks of Russia. Except that they were a mixed race folk who inherited the Portuguese conquistadors’s prowess and the indigenous cunning of living in the wild. They had no money to buy African slaves so they enslaved Indians (even though they had Indian blood themselves). Some went on to live off of cattle raising (especially in the southernmost regions of Brazil. And others became subsistence farmers). ---------------- As Brazil became indedepent in 1822, our first ruler was actually the son of the king of Portugal. His dad said: “son, proclaim the independence before some revolutionary man does it”. So Brazil during the monarchy had a dichotomy where local elites wanted more independence from central imperial control. And monarchy wanted some law and order to make Brazil a strong nation. It was because of the monarchy that Brazil didn’t break up into several small republics like Spanish America. ---------------- In 1889 a year after the monarchy abolished slavery, plantation owners who felt betrayed made a coup and overthrew the monarchy. They installed a puppet republic that only served the needs of the elite plantation owners of São Paulo state (the richest state). There almost no middle class in Brazil until then. ------------- It was like this until 1930 when a revolution driven by opposition elites and lower ranking military officials made another coup and tried to install a government that would modernize Brazil and industrialize it. This was the birth of Brazil as an industrial country. Unfortunately up to this day, the elites have tried to stall the country’s development and the improvement of the population. They even made deals with the most powerful left wing party led by Lula da Silva so as to make the lower classes vote for elitist politicians.

1:06 I see retaining walls made of tires….

Don't judge these countries by their poor citizens, judge them by their rich corrupt government.

Would disagree with one aspect near the end: the results were impacted by the nature of the country colonizing it. England, while still a monarchy, had limited elitist power and more power to the common man, mostly because of the Magna Carta. Spain’s monarchy was more of a traditional monarchy. While England still had its issues with a ruling class and very little upward movement, it did value its workers significantly more than other colonial monarchies in Europe.

Sadly, I think some of these factors have even gone on to influence the cultures of the very countries they plague. Now, I can only point to my personal experiences but I will say that it's scary to see the level at which people in many of these countries tend to downplay the seriousness of anything legal. What I mean is, almost ANYTHING can be done "under the table", you just need the right connections and/or money. That's not to say everyone's like that, not at all, but I've seen honest, good-hearted people be criticized by family members and neighbors for something as simple as getting their license renewed or paying full price for a legal service. Some problems are just so deep-rooted that people need to change their way of thinking for any real change to come, no politician or law could force it.

I think citing policy in Jamestown as the beginning of the United States' course towards democracy and capitalism without considering or even mentioning the Puritans and Separatists in New England is a huge oversight. Understanding the development of the Puritan colonies is absolutely vital to understanding the later course of US society, government, policy, and culture.

In Colombia and Ecuador, I see a lack of education (i.e. knowing that putting 10 businesses right next to each other selling the same kind of products and services is a terrible capitalistic idea) and motivation (not making the customer #1 and removing blocks from making it easier for customers to buy from you) as major factors today. Businesses do not understand that time=money and that the longer it takes to try to buy something (including infinity because the customer gives up), the less money you have per hour/day/week/month to spend money. The slower the business is to spend money because they are so slow to make money, the less money other businesses get from that. It is a downward cycle... one encouraged by the slower pace of life in warm weather regions like most of the population centers in Latin America. Yes, corruption matters, but every day I encounter businesses that could make more money THAT day by just working faster and making it easier for customers to spend their money, not just accepting the status quo saying "tranquillo" or "paciencia". And then the ones that are just redundantly with too many other businesses... they need to rethink their entire business and find what people need that they cannot already get. That is of course hard work, and not easy to do when you lack the motivation because your culture is too accepting of life experiences.

Excellent video Casual Scholar. You have explained what many of us in my country Guatemala learned about the roots of our failures in Latin America. At some point we as young students, I'm no longer one, come to question what made the US richer than our countries. Considering that it was a much younger nation. The way you described that part of our socio-economic system refreshed my memory from my days in College. Thanks and best regards!

I read that book in college, the Korean case in that book is very good, and I think overall it makes very good points about the importance of institutions in economic development.. but in the case of Latin America I think the book is making a huge stretch by linking modern failures with colonial times and it is also very reliant in black legend (not saying that none of that is true, but it is presented in a totally bias way) I’m an economist from Buenos Aires, Argentina and I studied a lot about Argentina’s economic history.. I think most of the problems we currently have originated in the XX century, although some cultural and institutional aspects date way back

1:29 “Nogales, Arizona… Nogales, Sonora”

We may be “poor” but we sure are some of the happiest people!!

three points: ... In the first place you were never able to name the African slave labor force that never received a payment, which was free labor and that benefit American landowners to accumulate large sums of money, the abuse of the british colonizers who displaced and exterminated the indigenous people in the north of the American continent, reducing entire populations to simple reserves, and the political interference of the powers (Eurocentrist) in the countries to maintain the costs of raw materials in their favor, being a good example of Panama and its independence in exchange for appropriating the channel for 100 years agreement

That’s why I moved from Latin America to the US, Latin America isn’t getting better anytime soon. It’s been like that since the beginning.

As a latin american that lives in Brazil, it almost feels like it isnt worth living I mean, working your ass off and still hardly buying food and also the amount of corruption really makes you think that its a losing battle either way.

Saludos desde Nogales Sonora La verdad que México le falta mucho para estar como usa pero ahí la llevamos, México es conocido por su gente trabajadora y tenemos que hallar la forma de ser mejores cada día, sin culpar a nadie ni al pasado.

Because of our own corruption and mediocrity. Lets stop blaming Spain, lets stop blaming "the empire", and lets start taking a look out ourselves and realizing that its our own decisions, politicians, and work ethics that keep us poor and unequal.

I think overall the US and Canada both have a more fair economic and legal systems to allow wealth to reach more people than Latin American countries. No governments are not corrupted or no people are saints but the legal foundation in the US and Canada allows more people to benefit from its economic growth and prosperity.

As a Cuban and half Colombian, thanks.

Im very curious as to why you ignore the neo-colonialism NATO countries still do in the region, like when US launched Operation Condor in South America during the Cold War, for example.

WOW! This a great video essay. Well written. Keep up the great work! - - Former VH1 Senior Producer and MTV award recipient for Creative Excellence.

Sorry man, the Guarani made deals with he Spaniards to conquer their neighbors and the chief gave women to the Spaniards because he thought it was strange for them to not have women. it was very different story, the guarani where very friendly. We Paraguayans are very mix in because of that good reception we had to the Spaniards that our government had a lot of mix people and until now the Guarani Language is spoken by 95% of Paraguayans. I know the narrative of Spaniard been bad goes better for many reasons but here it wasn't like Aztecs or Incas, here they join forces, it doesn't mean they weren't treated a second class citizens, but is more like the tribes that join the Spaniards to conquer the Aztecs . The Guaranis were conquering the river banks by the time the Spaniards appeared, and help them conquer faster and better.

What agreat mini documentary. Instant sub!

What civil war is he referring to that was before the 16th century in Britain? The only civil war i know of is the one that took place in the 1600s when Oliver Cromwell fought the army of Charles I, won, and the king was executed.

Thanks for sharing such wonderful content with your audience. It is very interesting stuff. I appreciate all the work put into it. Sincere thanks!

Remember: The Spanish were "Conquistadors" (Conquerors)...and the English were "Settlers"...a huge difference...

good job on spreading english black legend against spain, you can now open your first history book

The foundational reasons for most countries being poor or rich today are the intolerance of corruption, protection of property rights, and allowance for a free market. Without strong property rights and a free market (or generally free), there's too much risk for most to invest into the economy. With a lot of corruption, there's still investment. But, a lot can be exploited regardless of whether such investment is actually beneficial to the overall economy. For instance, in dealing with real estate in the U.S., I've learned a lot about how to use the tax codes to my advantage. Really, there should be no such tax on income to begin with. But, since there is, wealthier people can lobby politicians to work it to the advantage of a few. The more government intrusion there is in the economy, the more it can be used to the advantage of a few.

You do make some very interesting points in your video, however there is a more straight-forward answer to your question. Latin America was still largely semi-feudal/medieval until the 1970s, basically the encomienda system which you mentioned that the spaniards implemented was later renamed as the hacienda system, and it condemned Latin American peasant masses to a life of medieval servitude, ignorance and misery. Unlike the US and Canada were industrialisation happened at the end of the 19th century, in Latin America elites were extremely old-fashioned and feudalistic and resisted to any social and economic change with a few exceptions (Argentina, Southern Brazil). Latin American masses tried to get rid of this medieval elite and imperalism during the cold war by supporting agrarian reforms and socialist of communist movements, which resulted in a series of unfortunate events, dictatorships, civil wars, deaths in which the CIA played a big role. In the end all the Cold war conflicts further destabilised Latin America and strengthened the backwards elites which are sadly today still in control of economies, which leads to Latin America still having the highest income inequality of any region in the world today.

I stopped when the video completely omitted slavery (the very secure ownership of people by people) and continued to insist on the thesis that private property was not something in Latin America when it was. The Spanish crown and the Portuguese crown guaranteed the private property of Brazilian hacienderos and slave masters. In Portuguese America, slaveholders could form their own assemblies and govern themselves with enough autonomy, as long as they paid taxes. The local elite used to revolt against crown tax collectors and if you travel to the former agricultural regions of northeast or southeast Brazil you will find plantations almost identical to the south of the United States and an extremely similar type of society. In fact if you want to know what the confederation would look like today, just travel to Brazil and imagine people speaking English. It's the same logic. And Brazil's agrarian elites overthrew a monarchy because of abolition and they secured the private property of their large estates against any attempt at agrarian reform through numerous military coups. And the extreme concentration of land and the practice of the same type of economic policy that the Confederates defended for two centuries delayed Brazilian industrialization and maintained inequality at absurd levels. Obviously the secret of the United States is in the north, where there was less slavery and the establishment of a more urban type of society similar to the Netherlands and the cities of the old Hanseatic League or the medieval free cities (Italian communes for example). In fact, countries like Argentina, Uruguay and Chile have a standard of living that is on average twice as good as the rest of the continent due to the type of colonization that is more urban and mercantile than that based on slavery or indigenous extraction in the rest of Latin America. Inequality in the southern cone is much lower (except for Chile with its dictatorial neoliberal experiment, countries have similar inequality to the United States) and per capita income in the region is similar to that of Eastern European countries. The education and health systems are very good, and with the exception of Argentina, which has chronic economic problems due to a secular social conflict that boils down to the dual nature of their colonization (commercial urban parts vs. good growth. Chile and Uruguay are likely to become high-income countries in the next decade, converging with Portugal and Spain, but even given Argentina's economic and political problems, they should reach that level faster than any other country on the continent (perhaps Panama or the coast rich reach before). Countries like Brazil and Colombia will still take countless decades or more than a century to do so. Mexico itself should reach this standard sooner, due to strong industry. The problem in Latin America in general is that strong agrarian elites tend to capture the State and establish a type of economic policy that values ​​agricultural subsidies and trade agreements that favor the export of agricultural goods and the import of industrialized goods. This tends to undermine industrialization. These elites are afraid of industrial development because it strengthens democracy and they don't want people of color to have a political voice. Latin American elites tried to delay the democratization of the continent as much as possible with military coups and dictatorships that maintained their agrarianist policy. Definitive democratization only took place in the 1980s and is at risk. Countries like Brazil are ruled by the same agrarian oligarchies that overthrew the monarchy in 1889. Argentina has a bitter dispute between the agrarian elite and industrializing protectionists (it's an old debate that took place in the United States, but in Argentina it has not been resolved).