[War_ooc] Timeline stuff, part IV: Latin America

[John Penta]

Mike, of course, does things differently from everybody. Conditions in Latin
America follow:
---
Latin America in 2013 is very similar to what it was four years ago; a
region with huge economic and political potential but still dogged by
numerous
internal conflicts and widespread social problems. The recession
slowed growth considerably in almost
every country in the Southern part of the Americas and even caused
economic contraction in several others. As a result, crime and corruption
are
as prevalent as ever. The production and distribution of narcotics has
become more serious; an impoverished part of the world to begin
with, the economic slowdown has forced many people to turn to the drug
trade to support themselves, as well as increasing domestic
consumption among despondent Latin American youths.

Brazil, possessing the largest and most developed economy in Latin
America, has emerged somewhat unscathed from the recession. Increased
industrial output and the development of offshore oil deposits have
boosted the gross national income, though the per capita income of the
average Brazilian is the same as it was four years ago. Furthermore
government corruption, especially at the lower to mid-levels, has
hampered growth in the financial and service sectors. Street crime is
still prevalent and the increase in the South American drug trade has
caused significant headaches for Brazilian authorities; Brazilian drug
cartels are generally regarded by the DEA and Europol as the largest
and most sophisticated syndicates, quickly becoming the top
suppliers of ecstasy and other designer narcotics to the United
States, Canada and EU.

Conditions in Chile and Argentina are similar to those of Brazil. Though
far from ravaged by the recession, growth has been painfully slow and
corruption
is on the rise. The tourist industry has suffered particularly in
Argentina, with traditional tourist destinations such as Beunos Aires
and Cordoba seeing an increase in street crime, especially armed robbery.

Columbia has suffered more extensively; though the FARC is now effectively
defunct, the country is still experiencing considerable instability.
Corruption of the government and police runs extremely high and the
cocaine cartels are behind it, pumping coke and even heroin into the
hungry and lucrative North American markets. Acts of violence and terrorism
against anyone and everyone who threatens the extremely vicious
criminal organizations is rampant, and the corrupt and impotent central
government seems powerless to stop it. This in turn has led to a
backlash of vigilantism by angry Columbia citizens.

Hugo Chavez has entrenched himself as the undisputed dictator-for-life
of Venezuela. All elections are widely considered shams by the
international community and violence against critics and opponents of
Chavez are widespread. Chavez has continued to pursue a policy of
hard-line socialism for the Venezuelan economy and nationalized or
banned almost all 'gringo' companies. Foreign investment has fallen to
almost
zero, as has tourism. Unfortunately this rise in xenophobia and poor
economic planning, combined with a decreased demand in Venezuelan oil
due to increased Brazilian output, has resulted in a considerable
deterioration in the standard of living. Many are beginning to compare
Chavez to Robert Mugabe and Venezuela to Zimbabwe.
The governments of Ecuador and Bolivia have closely followed Venezuela's
path of socialism and 'gringos out!' rhetoric, though not with the
same fervor. Opposition is still more vocal and successful in these
two countries, although state violence against dissenters is on the
rise. A side effect of Venezuela's poor economic performance is
that Chavez is not able to bankroll his allies in foreign countries to
anywhere near the same extent as he was before, thus hampering dreams
of a socialist revolution throughout the rest of Latin America.
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