Andres Oppenheimer, The Miami Herald

January 27, 2008

Andres Oppenheimer

The Miami Herald

One Herald Plaza

Miami, Florida 33132-1693

RE: Latin America, the economic summit at Davos and why isn’t Paraguay there? As reported by you in today’s Miami Herald.

Mr. Oppenheimer,

Short of a quota or some dude in a ski mask carrying a shot gun…no way.

I hate being the perpetual turn in the punch bowl – Scratch that. I loooovvee being the perpetual turd in the punch bowl – but there is a readily discernible “missing link” of Latin America’s perpetual underrepresentation at rarees such as the one at Davos.

There is a simple answer. It requires a broad brush to do it justice.

Take a large pot. Put the following into it. Heat. Stir. Wait.

#1 – The Rule of Law

#2 – Property rights so that the next thug on a white horse can’t undo a man’s gain.

#3 – Free market capitalism

Once India, a country that benefited greatly from 2 centuries of British rule, realized that “exporting surgeons and importing cement plants” was not the best path to happiness its economy exploded. Admittedly, a country that allows cows to meander down Main Street in Mumbai has a way to go. If the price of oil goes in the crapper India will put call centers in Caracas.

Argentina is the best example possible of why most of the place doesn’t work.

It is a country blessed by God when he was giving out natural resources. Its people are hard working. Its men are valiant and its women are virtuous. In almost 2 centuries of sovereignty it has two things that have entered the memory book of the Western Canon. Two hundred years; two things.

A – Evita, a hooker with a heart of gold. She could always tell the buttered side from the dry.

B – The tango. I am pretty sure they stole that from the Italians.

That’s it.

Nothing else.

Great polo players. Great race car drivers. Great steak.

Nothing else.

Perhaps 2 or 3 centuries of the dead hand of Spanish rule cannot be overcome. Even so, “He arado en el mar” [“I have plowed in the sea”] shouldn’t be a life sentence.

Countries don’t “get” to Davos because they give great cocktail parties. They don’t “get” to Davos because it’s their turn.

Maybe in a world where umbrellas cause rain there will be a Davos summer session in Asuncion. Just kidding.

Countries get to Davos because they stood aside and let their citizens prosper. Once they prospered they allowed them to keep the fruits of their labor.

“Juice” isn’t a gift. You have to earn it. Once you have earned it you can do whatever you want with it.