Various publications, including
El País and
CNN en Español had indicated that the decade from 2012 marked a "second lost decade" for Latin America, due to the significant fall of the regional economic indices. During the second half of the decade, almost all the countries of the subcontinent traversed periods of no growth or an economic recession, which led to a turbulent political and social scene. Between 2003 and 2012, Latin America lived through years of stability (which included a boom in some cases) due to the high demand for raw materials partly due to the Asian Market. This demand came primarily from
China, which navigated the subprime crisis of 2008 with little difficulty. Benefitting from the weakening of the currencies from industrialized countries, they could obtain greater quantities of foreign currency. This period was known as the "gained decade," particularly by the center-left governments as a part of the "red tide" movement which had its best moment in that period. However, the slowing down of China from 2012, and the consequent fall in the price of raw materials led to a new scenario. In 2011 the region had its last year of strong growth (greater than 4% annual), while 2012 was slightly better than 3% and between the years 2013 and 2015 it was below 2%. During the years 2016 and 2017 the economic activity in Latin America decreased for the first time since 2002, whereas in 2018 it barely passed 1%. The poverty in the subcontinent also grew starting in 2014, for the first time since the 1980s. The effect of this situation was that Latin America lived through a "conservative wave" that included the general election of right leaning leaders in a region that during the previous century had for the most part elected left leaning governments. It was suggested that these aggressive political changes tended to strengthen exterior commerce and equilibrate fiscal accounts. However, the commercial war between the United States and China and a new increase in the value of the dollar worsened the regional economic situation in Latin America even more. In the last part of the 2010s, in various countries, there were diverse episodes of social disturbances. Venezuela was the country most affected by the economic crisis due to a mix between an extreme dependence on petroleum (whose value plummeted between 2012 and 2015), inflation, a corrupt central bank, and a lack of economic support from foreign countries. This created a situation of catastrophic proportions, including industrial paralysis, shortages, and problems with public services. Brazil, a country who had one of the largest increases on the global level during the 2000s, stayed immersed in a period of decrease starting in 2012. A situation influenced by the hosting of the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. The events organized in their nation generated a wave of protests, while between 2014 and 2016 the economy entered into a recession. == See also ==