A slump in local economies that has lasted years has only deepened the discontent with governments already widely scorned as corrupt and overly bureaucratic. Predictions that economic growth is on the way -- economists say Latin America will record a 4 percent growth rate this year after a long slump -- have done little to quell the dissatisfaction.
The main reason: Recent growth has not been widely shared, but rather concentrated in isolated pockets, usually attached to multinational investments, like mining, that employ few people.
Sub-human life
Peru is a good example. It has the region's most impressive economic growth, on paper, with the economy expanding about 4 percent a year since Toledo was elected in 2001. But that growth has not filtered down, and the deep disillusionment that failure has inspired is not lost on Toledo, whose approval rating is mired below 10 percent.
"What good is an impressive growth rate?" he said in a speech in May. "Wall Street applauds us, but in the streets, no. So what good is it?"
The poverty and inequality that breeds unrest is never more apparent than in this desolate region, 13,000 feet above sea level, that hugs the deep blue waters of Lake Titicaca and the craggy Bolivian border.
Unlike Lima, prosperous and modern with elegant restaurants, the hamlets and farms here provide a meager life. "What we have here is a sub-human life," said Teofilo Challo, 27, a farmer. "We try to make it and work from sunrise to sundown, just to survive. But we win nothing. No services, no health care, nothing."
Like many in Latin America who feel a profound disconnect from their government, the people here are not descendants of Europeans but are Aymara Indians. They form part of Latin America's forgotten classes, often indigenous or otherwise nonwhite, who increasingly promise political upheaval.
"The government only pays attention to those who have power," said Nestor Chambi, an indigenous leader and agronomist. "Rights are not for the poor. They are for the rich, by the rich, and so the people here have gotten tired."
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