This NACLA Report focuses on privatization-the conversion of public entities into privately-owned, profit-oriented businesses. When we began planning for this issue last year, it seemed that privatization was an unstoppable force in Latin America. Needy governments were in no position to resist the lenders' demands. Over the last months, however, in country after country, anti-privatization movements have begun to take shape. It remains to be seen how effective any of these movements will be in the long run and whether they will develop a more comprehensive critique of the neoliberal agenda of which privatization is merely a part. But the protestors have at least encouraged some governments to question whether privatization is, as its promoters claim, an economic panacea.