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After tens of thousands of marchers arrived to La Paz, Bolivia’s four main political parties reached an agreement on October 20 to hold a national referendum on a proposed new constitution that would "refound" the Andean nation. If the accord holds, Bolivia will vote on the draft constitution on January 25, 2009, or 13 months after the country’s Constituent Assembly first presented the document to congress.

Latin America has been notoriously absent from the presidential campaigns of John McCain and Barack Obama. Nonetheless, Obama promises to foster a new era of hemispheric relations based upon mutual understanding and respect for national sovereignty. If he is elected, the strengths and weaknesses of his policies toward Latin America in the eyes of progressives will rely upon his ability to remain committed to a broad-range approach to the region despite conflicting interest groups and pressures on his administration.

As stock markets tumble, plans for an alternative, regional financial framework gained new momentum among South American leaders. At a recent Summit, presidents from Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela agreed to bring the stalled Bank of the South online. They also drew up a series of integration projects and cooperation agreements.

Fury at the billionaire bailout of the criminal class that has driven Wall Street into a disaster of 9/11 dimensions festers down at the bottom of the economic food chain on Main Street. It is a familiar syndrome south of the border in Mexico, which had it's own mega-bailout in the 1990s. Back then, it was poor Mexican farmers and urban workers who ended up with the short end of the deal: they were saddled with onerous debt, their tax pesos financed the bailout and, in return, the cash-strapped government cut public services. Just over a decade later, it's déjà vu all over again—and Mexico could be next.