LATIN AMERICA

LATIN AMERICA

As I wrote about Europe or Asia, Latin Amercia is a diverse as those others. It is imposibe to stablish how "latin americans" act, behave or do busieness for example. It depends on the specific region, or specific country that such questions can be answered. There are some definitions that are very particular because they try to define what is Latin America but as it is obvious is not a easy topic.

“Latin America includes Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries of Cuba and the Dominican Republic.”
“Region of the Americas where Romance languages are spoken”
“The areas which Spain and Portugal colonized in the Americas.”
“The countries of Central and South America (including Mexico, but excluding the Caribbean countries).”

Some important facts of latin America:
It counts with 21 different countries with about 21million km2, and about 570 million people. Population :569 million

I am not going to talk about a specific country in the region, by the contrary I would like to know more about the whole region in general and the ECLAC (Economic Comission for Latin America and the Caribean).
This was what I found:

LATIN AMERICA (ECLAC)

"The Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) -the Spanish acronym is CEPAL- was established by Economic and Social Council resolution 106(VI) of 25 February 1948 and began to function that same year. The scope of the Commission's work was later broadened to include the countries of the Caribbean, and by resolution 1984/67 of 27 July 1984, the Economic Council decided to change its name to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); the Spanish acronym, CEPAL, remains unchanged.
ECLAC, which is headquartered in Santiago, Chile, is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations. It was founded with the purpose of contributing to the economic development of Latin America, coordinating actions directed towards this end, and reinforcing economic ties among countries and with other nations of the world. The promotion of the region's social development was later included among its primary objectives".

Member States:

Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia , Saint Vincent and the Granadines, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Uruguay, and
Venezuela


Associate members:
Anguilla, Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos Islands, and United States Virgin Islands.


Mandate and Mission
"The secretariat of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC):
(a) Provides substantive secretariat services and documentation for the Commission and its subsidiary bodies;
(b) Undertakes studies, research and other support activities within the terms of reference of the Commission;
(c) Promotes economic and social development through regional and subregional cooperation and integration;
(d) Gathers, organizes, interprets and disseminates information and data relating to the economic and social development of the region;
(e) Provides advisory services to Governments at their request and plans, organizes and executes programmes of technical cooperation;
(f) Formulates and promotes development cooperation activities and projects of regional and subregional scope commensurate with the needs and priorities of the region and acts as an executing agency for such projects;
(g) Organizes conferences and intergovernmental and expert group meetings and sponsors training workshops, symposia and seminars;
(h) Assists in bringing a regional perspective to global problems and forums and introduces global concerns at the regional and subregional levels;
(i) Coordinates ECLAC activities with those of the major departments and offices at United Nations Headquarters, specialized agencies and intergovernmental organizations with a view to avoiding duplication and ensuring complementarity in the exchange of information".

The information was taken from: http://www.eclac.org/default.asp?idioma=IN