La cultura importa: obstáculos al crecimiento de América Latina

The truth is that so much time has passed since independence that Latin Americans have lost the right to use others as the excuse for their own failures. Various outside powers have indeed affected the region's fate. But that is true for every region of the world.
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As former Ecuadorian President Osvaldo Hurtado recently noted in The American Interest,

"Latin Americans do not trust legal institutions and actors . . . whether government courts or private lawyers. Indeed, the deep-rooted, centuries-old custom of flouting the law has been a more powerful influence on the continent than the countless laws passed over the centuries to regulate economic, social and political relations. Latin American legislatures have probably passed more laws over the past 175 years than their counterparts anywhere on the planet, yet never have so many laws been ignored by so many for so long."
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Latin Americans must look in the mirror and confront the reality that many of our problems lie not in our stars but in ourselves. We must lose our fear of change. We must embrace entrepreneurship. We must learn to trust. We must strengthen our commitment to democracy and the rule of law. And we must abandon the military practices that continue to rub salt into the wounds of our past. Only then will the region finally attain the development it has so long sought.

Copiado de Foreign Affairs. Culture matters: The Real Obstacles to Latin American Development