How is the food crisis affecting the Latin American region?
Pamela Cox: There are many impacts on the region. There is an economic impact and there’s a human impact. Latin American countries have reduced their debt, they are running budget surpluses, they have strengthened their financial systems and developed their domestic credit markets, and therefore they’re carrying less external debt. Despite this, impacts can be seen already. Stock markets are down in the region, we see currency movements, we are seeing falling commodities prices, which is especially important for the region since regional growth in the last five years has been much linked to high commodity prices. We are seeing inflationary pressures because of the high food and fuel prices, and countries are feeling this impact, so probably they see declining demand, particularly those countries that are linked to the U.S. economy like Mexico and the Caribbean. And they are seeing falling remittances; Mexico remittances from the U.S. are down 12 percent. IPS: What about the human conse
