The Health, Economic, and Political Challenges Facing Latin America and the Caribbean by Monica de Bolle published by PIIE (9/2020).
“Prepared testimony delivered before the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, and Trade hearing on “The Health, Economic, and Political Challenges Facing Latin America and the Caribbean”
I. Background
The COVID-19 pandemic struck Latin America in late February 2020. Governments in the region had at least two months to prepare for the pandemic by adopting public health strategies, economic rescue plans, and policies to protect millions of informal and vulnerable workers throughout the region. There was time for these governments to learn from other countries on how to address the pandemic in its early stages. Despite the time advantage, none of these preparations occurred.
Why? First, because of weak leadership, poor capacity, and because some leaders—including President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico and President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil—minimized the dangers posed by a new and emerging disease.
As a result of these failures, the impact in Latin America has been widespread and tragic. As of September 11, the region’s five largest economies combined (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Argentina) registered 6.8 million cases of COVID-19, or about 400,000 more than the United States, and hundreds of thousands of deaths. Brazil alone is the second country in the world (after the United States) with the most deaths, and more than 130,000 people perished over the past seven months. The numbers may be even greater because of substantial underreporting, lack of testing capacity, and no systematic contact tracing protocols.
The toll of the disease has been particularly harsh. The region’s economies have suffered unprecedented drops in GDP, with rampant unemployment, and a full-blown humanitarian crisis falling disproportionately on the poor, because of their minimal access to health services and lack of economic support from local governments.
Latin America’s economy was already fragile before the pandemic struck, leaving little room in public sector fiscal stimulus. Even so, the response failure has made the situation worse. That failure resulted in part from a misguided view that policymakers had to choose between strict public health policies, such as quarantines and lockdowns, and preserving the economy. That was a false choice that led to hesitation about the widespread adoption of lockdowns and sanitary cordons, producing the worst possible outcome: Countries failed to control both the disease and its economic fallout. Government policies have either been insufficient or misdirected, leaving their populations adrift…”
