¨The division of labor among nations is that some specialize in winning and others in losing. Latin America, has specialized in losing¨

The quote above is from a fine book (obvioulsy not on the topic of football) Ive been reading the past week or so: The Open Veins of Latin America - Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

It was written in the 1970s, so obvioulsy things have progressed since then, but its put a lot of what Ive seen, heard and thought into context and perspective. It highlights how these lands have been exploited by first the europeans and then america. Always serving the interests and fuelling the wealth of others and never allowed to look after itself and the people who live there. From the many aboriginal communities who were decimated and destroyed by the blind greed of the spanish and other europeans until the book ends in the midst of many, US backed, cruel dictatorships - the continentents natural resources and peoples have suffered for others.

Basically, your man Eduardo Galeano documents (with a nice line in humour) meticulously the statistics of exploitation and murder - the facts, the numbers, and most importantly the emotions and situations behind the well documented data.

It would have been a boon to have the tome at the start of my trip as it would have informed me of what i was seeing (e.g. abject poverty, political corruption the continent over, etc) and informed me of where to go. For example, i would most certainly have headed to Potosi in Bolivia - once the most important city in the world, but that was before the silver dried up...

Anway, if you´re coming out this way and interested in why things are the way they are, then i highly recommend it.