Private Equity and Innovation in Latin America and The Caribbean: Canning Papers

Brazilian construction company Odebrecht’s admission in 2016 that it had bribed
public officials across Latin America over a decade to secure contracts led to the
jailing of more than 130 officials and business people in Brazil by November 2018.
Even incumbent and former presidents have fallen as a result of the scandal.
The public has become increasingly disenchanted with democratic politics, as
governments are perceived to be self-serving and corrupt.

Politics is changing in Latin America. The so-called ‘pink tide’ of left-wing governments, associated with a decade of booming commodity prices, has peaked and ebbed. In the aftermath voters are angry over the slowdown in economic growth, corruption, and crime. In some countries the political pendulum has swung to the Right, or even to the extreme Right. Populist and nationalist politicians of both the Right and Left have made gains. The picture is not uniform. In this paper we will try to get a feel for the direction of travel and how it is affecting business