The history of Latin America has been one characterized by conflicts and division, triggered by the Spanish and Portuguese colonization. The occasion finds Brazil in a strong position, placing third in preference among international investors. At the risk of sounding excessively optimistic, I am going to affirm that the coming revolution that will once and for all turn this region into a powerful player in international trade is called the Internet. Counting Spanish and Portuguese speaking people in North and South America, about 26 million individuals are plugged in, and their number grows exponentially. This would consolidate the much-expected and inexorable transformation that will lift the developing Latin American economies and make them contenders among the industrial nations.
Countless surveys show that Latin America is the one market where the Web grows at the fastest rate.
Brazil in particular is firmly ensconced in third place, right after the U.S. and China, with prospects of receiving billions of dollars in investments over the next few years. Consumers of information will be the leaders of that revolution. The most revealing finding in the latest survey, made by the Laredo Group for StarMedia, in which 22,000 Internet users were interviewed between December 1999 and January 2000, is that 90 percent of respondents feel that the Internet is already breaking down the barriers between Latin American countries. This may not be all that surprising, but it should give food for thought to those who claim that Brazilians have no cultural affinity with Argentines, that Argentines have little in common with Chileans, etc. And the revolution is driven by the power of the Internet as a compelling new business media, in a geographically unlimited economy.