The end of an era?

Latin American governments are hiking taxes and forcing changes to contracts with oil and gas investors in a marked departure from the economic liberalisation of the 1990s. But reality may prompt a rethink, writes Maria Kielmas

'Sovereignty' and 'national control' over natural resources, specifically oil and gas, are back on the Latin American political agenda. In rhetoric that is a fusion of Marx and Mussolini, newly-elected populist leaders are underwriting their credentials as champions of the poor by confronting private sector, and foreign oil and gas investors. This confrontational style contrasts sharply with that of the 1990s when most countries in the region undertook structural reforms and economic