Anyone who pretends to "understand" Latin America is a fool.

We give more economic aid to multinational corporations to increase their profits than we do to all the countries in the world combined.

The United States condoned dictatorships in Latin America for much of the 20th century.

During these years in the small-talk wilderness, I also wondered why Americans valued friendliness with commerce so much. Was handing over cash the sacred rite of American capitalism—and of American life? On a day that I don’t spend money in America, I feel oddly depressed. It’s my main form of social interaction—as it is for millions of Americans who live alone or away from their families.

The people of the United States will do anything for Latin America, except read about it.

Most governments in the United States in a hundred years have not respected the peoples of Latin America. They have sponsored coup d'etats, assassinations.