Latin America and the Global Crisis

23:58

March 02, 2009

A man holds a sign with a picture of US President Barack Obama during a protest against job cuts and high interest rates outside the central bank in Sao Paulo, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009. Brazil's Labor Ministry says the country lost 654,000 jobs in December as the international financial crisis slammed Latin America's largest economy. (AP) — A sign shows US President Barack Obama during a protest against job cuts and high interest rates outside the central bank in Sao Paulo on Jan. 21, 2009. Brazil's Labor Ministry says the country lost 654,000 jobs in December as the international financial crisis slammed Latin America's largest economy. (AP)

President Barack Obama got his first economic intelligence briefing last week from new CIA chief Leon Panetta. And in the midst of all the talk about global crisis fueling global unrest, Latin America got a special mention.

Eastern Europe has had violent protests. Ukraine is on the global watch list. But Panetta told reporters he has been warned of economic instability in Latin America, and he named names: Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador. Is he right?

This hour, On Point: We'll look at how the global economic meltdown is hitting Latin America.

You can join the conversation. Have you been following the crisis internationally? What are you hearing from friends and family to the south?Guests:

Joining us from Fairfax, Virginia, is Joby Warrick, intelligence reporter for The Washington Post. He has been covering the security risks related to the global economic downturn, and reported last week on the president's first economic intelligence briefing.
Joining us from Bogota, Colombia, is Ricardo Avila, editor-in-chief of Portafolio, a daily financial paper published in Colombia. He was chief of staff for the Organization of American States in Washington from 1996 to 2000 and served as Colombia's deputy foreign affairs minister in 1992.
And from Toronto is John Price, managing director for business intelligence at Kroll Associates. Based in Miami, he has been watching Latin American markets and economies for 16 years.

This program aired on March 2, 2009.