I have travelled extensively throughout South America, most recently exploring the unknown Tepuys of the Amazonas, and the Orinoco Delta and Guacharo Caves of Venezuela.
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I have frequently visited Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and other nations of the Andean Pact and recognize the modernization striving for some form of social justice in areas where political progress has been marred by enterprise in contraband.
MesoAmerica has finally come to a peaceful settlement of several civil wars, the most recent one being the Salvadoran conflict which was resolved just before my visit two years ago.
The great "continent of Brazil" is a high energy nation with a large young population and vast resources that it is trying to manage responsibly and still benefit some sectors of its society. One example that makes no economic sense, but becomes clear when it is seen that a military government instituted the policy, is in the matter of electric power generation by a redundant supply of nuclear breeder reactors. With more capacity than they can possibly use from this potentially militarily useful source, the Brazilians have built the world's largest extravagant hydrology project in Itaipu Dam. But if viewed as a strategic move against the single threat in the area, they have neutralized any worries from Argentina, whose capital Buenos Aires would be flooded out at any instant the plug is pulled on Itaipu's giant impoundment.
Most all of the continent has shifted from military dictatorships to elected civilian administration, all since the time I began exploring the Latin Americas.