The bad news is that the crisis will severely impact Latin America for four reasons:

1) A substantial decrease in the price of raw materials
(oil, gas, copper, soy.)

2) A reduction in foreign investment in the
region.

3) An increase in protectionism in the U.S. and Europe.

4) A
diminution in remittances by emigrants.

The good news is that Hugo Chávez will lose a great deal of his ability to intervene in his
neighbors' affairs, and will be forced to apply the brakes on the mad arms race to which he seemed dedicated.

The weakest country facing the current crisis is perhaps Ecuador, a country that will enter, in the second quarter of 2009, into a sort of generalized bankruptcy. As an additional consequence of the crisis it is very likely that power will shift to the center right in the next elections in Chile, Brazil and Uruguay.