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fifteen years ago. He talks about free speech and elections and a free press
mattering, and I think that political discourse really has moved that way
a lot in Latin America. The fact that Fujimori's personality has imperfec–
tions is not central. Yes, these systems are imperfect, but they are signifi–
cantly different from what it was like under the military, or under
regimes such as the authoritarian one of Mexico.
Claudio Veliz:
Four aspects of this problem merit consideration: the
political, the economic, the one we have associated with consumerism,
and the religious.
In
politics, there is no doubt that things are moving in
the direction that you suggest.
In
economics, it is equally clear that the
whole region is embracing free market economics, no doubt with
varying degrees of enthusiasm, and with Chile, so far, showing the best
results, probably because of its insularity. As for the general acceptance of
consumer goods originating in the English-speaking world, I take it that
today's discussion indicates that the phenomenon deserves all the
attention we have bestowed on it. Finally, there is the very important
religious aspect, convincingly reflected in the unprecedented number of
conversions to evangelical Protestantism. This is more than four straws
on the breeze; these are four weighty beams borne by a powerful wind
of change that is blowing in a very definite direction. I find it impossible
to ignore such evidence.
Irving Louis Horowitz:
Peter Berger has the last point. That is, we
conduct business in English, but we manage to
bll
in Serbian.
Edith Kurzweil:
On that note, thank you all very much.
