> There are two other interesting things about Uruguay. It's the only country
> of Latin America in which massive privatization was not undertaken (people
> voted against it in 1992, in a referendum). It is also the only South American
> country that registered significant progress in the fight against poverty
> from 1982 to 1995.
That is because Uruguay had one of the most developed welfare states/ social democracies in Latin America and successfully fought off the IMF's plan to dismantle it and decimate the public sector as well. Because of this, the IMF denied Uruguay quite a few loans, if I remember. U has been under IMF "tutelage" for ,what, 20 years now? Surprising it doesn't look like Peru. One of the negatives is that Uruguay still has fairly high inflation (the last time I looked) 40-50%. I think its geographical location has a lot to do with its relative economic success. Lots of gawdy tourism too. Punta del Este, ick.
Sam Pawlett