The Andes

Cholera epidemics, mass unemployment, drug trafficking, and conflict: these are the signs of Andean societies in crisis. Whole communities are now on the margins of survival in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Daunting levels of poverty have been created by harsh new economic policies, which compound the legacy of colonial exploitation, military dictatorship, unfair terms of international trade, and the heavy burden of foreign debt.