I'm certainly not in favor of the kind of totalitarian socialism that was practiced in the Soviet Union.

If a country is very poor, the only way for them to turn things around is to profit from the natural resources in their country. If they cannot profit from their own resources, then what options do they have?

In many of the poor countries in Latin America, the problem is that all of their valuable resources are owned by foreign companies. During the 20th Century, many of these countries has fascist dictators who were puppets of the CIA, and they were bribed into selling all of their countries resources away -- mostly to private American corporations.

The only solution now for these countries is to nationalize these resources like Bolivia is now doing. Keep in mind these countries are not kicking out the foreign corporations like was done in Cuba or China when they turned communist. What they are simply doing is requiring these countries to turn over ownership to the state and then they negotiate a profit-sharing situation that is acceptable to both sides. What we are seeing in both Venezuela and Bolivia, is that the foreign corporations, while they are not too happy with this situation, they are staying anyway and accepting the government's terms because even the small profit they are being allowed to keep makes it worthwhile for them to be there. And meanwhile, the government then is able to raise money which they can spend on infrastructure, health care, eduction, etc.

The basic principle here is that when a country is poor, they need an influx of money to turn things around. Mexico is certainly in that situation now. This is why President Fox opposes our border control plans. Currently, the biggest source of money coming into Mexico is immigrants in the US sending money back home to their families. And because Fox is a conservative who is not in favor of nationalizing any industries, he really has no other solutions to get money coming into his country. Even the tourism industry in Mexico is mostly run by foreign corporations, meaning that money spent by tourists in Mexico then is sent back out of the country.