Oda al Héroe del Subdesarrollo

Recientemente asistí a disfrutar la magnífica interpretación, por parte de la Orquesta Filarmónica, de la música del cine. Con un repertorio memorable y en el marco del Teatro Mélico Salazar, la noche de ese sábado pintaba a que iba a ser memorable.

Dada la altísima calidad de la Orquesta, me fue imposible adquirir boletos en otra locación que no fuera la Galería del cuarto piso. ¡En cuestión de horas todas las localidades estaban agostadas! Aunque algo decepcionado por no haber conseguido una mejor localidad, internamente me entusiasmaba ver que el costarricense tuviera tal interés por una actividad de tal envergadura.

De este modo, a sabiendas de que tendría que hacer fila, el sábado me presté a llegar un poco más temprano de lo habitual a San José y a estacionar mi vehículo en un parqueo aledaño a Cuesta de Moras.

Eran las seis y treinta de la tarde, el cielo estaba despejado y se podía sentir una brisa fresca en la capital. Hice mis apuestas y decidí no traer conmigo el paraguas que siempre cargo en mi vehículo.

Dispuesto a disfrutar de una breve caminata por la Avenida Central me enrumbé hacia el Teatro Melico Salazar. Una parte de mí se esforzaba por apreciar la vida capitalina, con la refinada estructura del majestuoso Teatro Nacional, y el llamativo mural en la fachada del Hotel Presidente. Nada mejor que un sábado con una dosis de cultura, pensé para mis adentros. Sin embargo, mi otra mitad no podía hacerse de la vista gorda con la basura, y los grafitis que no dieron tregua ni si quiera al polémico “SJO ¡Vive!” ubicado a un costado del Teatro Nacional.

Continué mi camino mientras mi mente discutía enardecidamente consigo misma, y al llegar a la entrada del Melico Salazar, observé con asombro que solamente había unas 10 personas haciendo fila, por lo que decidí caminar 25 metros más hacia el oeste en busca de un café. A pesar del buen sabor de mi bebida caliente, el fétido olor que emanaba de la acera en el trayecto me hizo cuestionarme si realmente había valido la pena. Mi autoreproche escaló al ver que ahora la fila no era de 10 personas sino de unas 25 a 30 personas.

   

Resignado, y ahora con unas cuantas gotas que caían del cielo y amenazaban a varios entusiastas que hacían fila mientras exhibían con orgullo sus camisas de la Guerra de las Galaxias o Viaje a las Estrellas, me recosté contra la estructura del Teatro y esperé.

Mientras aguardaba, fue inevitable no observar como varios autos se estacionaban justo al frente del inmueble. Un “guachiman” con chaleco reflector y conos dirigía orquesta y me hacía dudar si el repertorio musical ya había iniciado. Gentes de todas las edades y géneros parqueaban y se bajaban elegantemente al mismo tiempo que invadían un carril completo de la Avenida Segunda y violentaban, el ya de por sí, abarrotado espacio vial disponible.

Justo cuando yo me preguntaba en dónde estaba la Policía de Tránsito, y si esta era la cultura “refinada” del costarricense, que estacionaba en donde mejor le pareciera sin importar afectación a terceros; las puertas del Teatro se abrieron y procedimos a subir en fila, y como gente civilizada, al cuarto piso. ¡Al menos las filas sí se respetan!, pensé.

Luego de esperar 15 minutos más en una fila que se asemejaba a una serpiente tomando un baño de sol, con su cuerpo estrujado y en zigzag, una joven de temprana edad dio el banderazo de salida al abrir la puerta hacia la parte interna del Teatro. La línea comenzó a avanzar y todo transcurría con normalidad hasta que la serpiente, de su propia voluntad, decidió separarse. ¡El animal ahora tenía dos cabezas!

La recién nacida serpiente, cobró vida gracias a uno de esos héroes urbanos costarricenses que reciben más dinero en su vuelto y lo esconden, que rayan por la derecha en el espaldón y toman primer lugar en la hilera de autos, gracias a un derecho divino otorgado al nacer. Uno de esos “vivos” que sabiendo que no le han cobrado por el segundo café en su factura se queda callado y celebra en su interior.

Este héroe de mitología que golpea un auto en un parqueo y se da a la fuga, tuvo la “suspicacia” de aprovecharse de la joven funcionaria, y haciendo uso del pliegue de la serpiente más cercano a la puerta de ingreso, le extendió su tiquete a la joven y ésta muy ingenuamente lo dejó pasar.

Su “ingenio” no tardó en adoptar un cúmulo de seguidores, y en un santiamén la joven se encontraba recibiendo entradas provenientes de dos filas. Con asombro y malestar, al llegar a la puerta le indiqué a la joven que había una única fila y que ésta era la del costado izquierdo. Al ver que quizás la llave de paso estaba por cerrarse una señora, entrada en edad, le dio su tiquete intempestivamente a la joven y apresuró a su esposo e hija, de mediana edad, a ingresar. La serpiente había vuelto a tener una única cabeza, pero el daño ya estaba hecho.

Al dirigirme a un espacio de los que aún estaban disponibles, observé al caballero que había “aprovechado” la última ventana de oportunidad y le dije: “Muy mal hecho”. Él lucía apenado, pero curiosamente su hija saltó al rescate y en tono confrontativo me dijo: “no me lo regañe, él no fue el primero”. Ahora, de repente, la trama de la película había dado un giro inesperado y yo era el malo de la historia. El villano que hacía frente a uno de los 10 o 15 héroes que habían sido “vivos” y habían sabido aprovechar la “oportunidad”, estaba completamente fuera de lugar.

Brevemente argumenté: “tan culpable es el primero en meter la mano a un bolsillo ajeno, como el último”, sin embargo, mi línea de argumentación parecía ser frágil ante un “valor” con raíces muy profundas en la “cultura” que se esbozaba en ese instante.

Descansé mi caso aludiendo qué si él sabía que estaba haciendo algo malo, debió de haberle puesto fin al acto. Me retiré, mientras se hacía cada vez más notorio que bajo las reglas del “héroe costarricense” mi argumento había sido aniquilado y carecía totalmente de cualquier validez.

Aunque algo defraudado por lo sucedido, la impecable ejecución de la Filarmónica logró elevar mi espíritu. Casi había olvidado ya el altercado cuando de repente anunciaron, antes de iniciar la segunda parte del concierto, que oficiales de tránsito se encontraban bajando placas de los autos estacionados al frente del inmueble. Desde lo alto de la Galería, en el cuarto piso, alcancé a observar como una cantidad significativa de asistentes, que habían hecho elegante ingreso hacía una hora, corrían algo desencajados hacia las salidas.  

El concierto volvió a reiniciar y me fue imposible no reflexionar y comparar instintivamente la ocasión en que asistí a la Casa de la Ópera en Zúrich a disfrutar de la puesta en escena de Pagliacci. Al contrastar las situaciones previas a disfrutar de ambos espectáculos me era difícil no preguntarme si realmente merecemos el título de Suiza Centroamericana o si éste es solamente un imaginario en donde vive el héroe costarricense. Un héroe admirado por su ingenio y perspicacia. Un héroe egoísta y oportunista, vigilante siempre de la más mínima oportunidad para sacar provecho de los demás. 

Latin America: A Land to Add Value

“Happiness is not the absence of problems; it's the ability to deal with them.”

Steve Maraboli

Latin America

Latin America has been a region which has suffered throughout history, political instability that has led to deterioration in the quality of life. Latin America has always been looked at as an undeveloped region with lots of promises for the future but many obstacles in order to deliver.

Which is the true legacy that the current generation is providing to the young? Is our way of doing business, educating our people and taking care of health sustainable? Could we restrict the dilemma to a matter of political visions (capitalism/socialism)?

To analyze the governability of the region and propose solutions it is useful to start with a broad perspective of what is going on regarding leadership and the way of embracing the 21^st Century.

There is a clear division between the countries facing the Atlantic Ocean (Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela) and the countries facing the Pacific Ocean (Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia). While the first group has shown irresponsible policies like exaggerated protectionism that has undermined the innovation and competitiveness of their industries, the second group has adopted open economies with free trade agreements which are more likely to attract investment.[1][1]

The most critical case in the Atlantic Block is Venezuela who closed 2013 with inflation over 50 %. Venezuela’s economic distress is so acute that the central bank stopped releasing regular statistics for the first time ever, threatening to increase borrowing costs further as the nation faces $10 billion of financing needs.[2][2]

Even though some of these economies are able to stay afloat given the high amounts of natural resources they have (Venezuelan oil, Argentine soy and Brazilian iron ore), the prices volatility don´t represent a sustainable model for the region.

To the contrary, nations facing the Pacific Ocean have focused on adding value and attracting investment to their territories. The U.S. Department of Treasury affirms:  These Latin Tigers (Colombia, Peru and Chile) are some of the world’s most open economies. The Tiger economies are leading the way for smaller countries in the region, such as Panama and Uruguay, and serving as examples for others countries that remain stumped by political agendas, despite their wealth in natural resources.[3][3]

The Costa Rican Case

Even though Costa Rica is a small Latin American economy it has been exposed to many of the obstacles that have kept the entire area undeveloped.

Costa Rica has the most ancient democracy in Latin America, which has allowed the country to build its society in a different way than other countries in the region. Back in the early 20^th Century the country faced many inequality problems and riots when the working society arisen, supported by socialist ideas coming from the Russian Revolution. These battles ended with a resolution in the administration of Dr. Rafael Ángel Calderón Guaridia (1940-1944) with a pact between the Government, Communist Party and the Catholic Church to guarantee a strong labor legislation, and Social Guarantees (Health Care). 

Even though this was a huge win for the communist group and represented the solidification of a base to build up a strong middle class in Costa Rica, the country didn´t took a communist or authoritarian path and instead strengthen its democracy.

This democratic middle class creation strongly contradicts what Robert D. Kaplan proposes in his essay "Was Democracy Just a Moment?" Mr. Kaplan believes that democracy and undeveloped countries are not compatible. He assures that the only way for developing countries to reach social stability is to be under an “efficient” authoritarian regime. He refers to cases like Chile, Singapore and Peru in order to support his thesis. [4][4] 

But why if this were to be true are there countries like Cuba, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia or Venezuela? Why Costa Rica was able to build a solid middle class without authoritarism and where is currently losing the trail? Which country are the young leaders inheriting?

According to the “Economic Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American Middle Class” report elaborated by the World Bank[5][5], Costa Rica managed to be the country of the region where the middle class grew the most in the last decade, nevertheless there is also an increase in the inequality.[6][6]

Costa Rica is also the country with a higher public spending in Central America. According to the Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Fiscales the country spends 26 % of its GDP in this subject. [7][7]

A dilemma rises in this topic as 8 % of the GDP is spent in state payroll.[8][8] Is Costa Rica managing to keep its middle class with a strong intervention from the State in order to reduce unemployment making the State bigger? Wouldn´t this growth of the State bring more bureaucracy, inefficiency and be an obstacle for innovation, investment attraction and competitiveness? A quick solution would be to reduce the size of the State. But to what extent this would impact the Costa Rican model?

This controversy isn´t only a Costa Rican reality. In Latin America this same issues are being manifested and they are opening the gates to populists that promise a better reality to the people. These populists enchant the masses that don´t realize that by moving to a protectionist State the stagnation that will come as a consequence will be fatal in a globalized reality while other countries and regions aren´t losing time.

Latin Americans should interiorize what Václav Havel, last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003), very wisely affirmed: “Though my heart may be left of centre, I have always known that the only economic system that works is a market economy. This is the only natural economy, the only kind that makes sense, the only one that leads to prosperity, because it is the only one that reflects the nature of life itself”.

What Can Be Done?

            So what is the exact measure to avoid falling into the frightening populism and still guarantee a prosperous society? The answer might come from the implementation of several plans sparse throughout different latitudes.

An interesting “cluster” to analyze is the Nordic Countries. They have the world’s highest rates of social mobility according to Jo Blanden, Paul Gregg and Stephen Machin, of the London School of Economics.[9][9]

The Nordics also manage to dominate indices of competitiveness as well as of well-being, and pride themselves on the generosity of their welfare states. How do they do it?

About 30% of their labor force works in the public sector, twice the average in the Organization for Economic Development and Co-operation. [10][10] Isn´t this a contradiction? Before I mentioned how having a big State could generate gridlocks but the Nordic Countries show different results.

The situation in both regions is very different. It begins with fiscal responsibility: all four Nordic countries have AAA ratings and debt loads significantly below the euro-zone average. It begins with choice and competition rather than paternalism and planning.[11][11] 

Even though the size of the State is somewhat bigger than what many liberals would expect the system has shown great results because the essence of the State is extremely different than the ones in Latin America.

In Latin America a bigger State means to have a fertile land for corruption. This corruption at the same time cause an exile of investments, increasing the poverty and the intervention of a paternalist State which provides the perfect scenario for the populist politicians to emerge.

According to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2013[12][12] the top three countries in the region are Uruguay (19), Chile (22) and Costa Rica (49). This index helps to explain why having a bigger State in the region brings more complexity and possible problems than having this kind of system in a Nordic country.

Nevertheless, the public spending in Health and Education have allowed a country like Costa Rica to have the 21^st best education worldwide (higher in Latin America) according to The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 from WEF[13][13] and to be a leader in the region regarding to public health[14][14] spending 10.9 % of its GDP.[15][15]

Regarding these subjects Costa Rica has been able to execute policies similar to the ones of the Nordic countries which have shown interesting results. Still there is a problem not only for Costa Rica but for the region concerning the high levels of corruption. How can this be diminished?

Now it is time to turn our eyes to the small Country of Singapore. Besides having high scores in many international rankings, this country should call our attention given the fact that being in a region where corruption is common (similar to Latin America) currently Singapore appears as the fifth less corrupt country in the world.[16][16]

How were the Singaporeans able to affront an Odyssey of such dimensions and still be triumphant? First they decided to fight corruption by establishing the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau in 1952 in order to attract foreign businesses to invest in their land.[17][17]

They showed a long-term mentality and 62 years later they escalated in the corruption perception index and brought business opportunities to the country generating a GDP per capita of $60.799[18][18].

Also, Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that small states share specific concerns and common interests, such as environmental and economic vulnerabilities. These similarities allow small states to discuss and foster common positions on issues of mutual concern, thereby giving them a bigger voice in the UN.[19][19]

Additionally, the Singaporeans have kept the salaries of politicians and civil servants high in order to repress economic incentive to engage in corrupt activity.

            Even though this alternative might represent a high spending in the public service, in theory by reducing the corruption in the country there would be more investment which would generate better business opportunities for the people and would diminish the paternalist role of the State leaving space to take care of Health, Education and Infrastructure as its main tasks.

This would cause in the population more willingness to pay their taxes since there would be tangible improvements in their life quality and at the same time the environment free of corruption would allow a better collection of taxes with lower evasion.

Given this scenario there are two topics that need to be addressed: Education and entrepreneurship. In order to establish a long-term goal of competitiveness for the region first the education needs to be improved. At this point we need to return to our Nordic pool of success and direct our eyes to Finland.

Here prospective teachers are competitively selected from the pool of college graduates—only 15 percent of those who apply are admitted—and receive a three-year graduate-level teacher preparation program, entirely free of charge and with a living stipend.[20][20]

In Finland contrary to the Latin America reality being a professor is well respected. These people don´t deal with delays on their salary as many Latin Americans[21][21][22][22][23][23].

It is mandatory for the region to increase the quality of the professors in order to assure future competitiveness and provide a brighter future to the generations to come. This leads to the last topic that I want to address which is entrepreneurship. Once having the conditions mentioned above a new class of entrepreneurs could arise. 

Esteban Brenes and Jerry Haar affirm that: “The decision to become an entrepreneur is affected by values, beliefs, and social institutions”.[24][24]

According to them some societies consider entrepreneurs undesirable and people are discouraged from following this path. Given the new rising “Atlantic Bloc” in Latin America it is important to remember that in former Soviet countries, schools and universities trained people to become bureaucrats so that even today, it is hard for young people to become entrepreneurs.

In other countries, business people are not respected because they have shown improper behavior in that society in the past. Countries with a clear view of importance of entrepreneurship for growth and success should work at changing the attitude of their population, and encourage them to accept entrepreneurs, and even consider them as heroes”.[25][25]

Coming back to the question of what legacy are the young generations receiving, Latin American leaders have to revise and work together with new leaders to overcome the current obstacles by opening their minds in a globalized world and realizing that in many other regions there are people with similar difficulties working together for a better future.

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Bibliography

1. Luhnow, D. (2014). Two Latin Americas. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 06, 2014, from http://m.us-wsj.com /articles/SB10001424052702303370904579296352951436072?mobile=y

2. Kurmanaev, A. (2014). Venezuela in Data Denial After Inflation Tops 50%: Andes Credit. Bloomberg News. Retrieved January 10,2014, from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-09/venezuela-in-data-denial-after-inflation-tops-50-andes-credit.html

3. Perez, P. (2013). Growth and Development in Latin America. Brown Brothers Harriman. Retrieved January 07, 2014, from http://www.bbh.com/wps/wcm/connect/4ccb1300407234a0ab70eb594e546cef/Globalview+-+Thought+Leadership_Growth+in+Latin+America_817_13.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=4ccb1300407234a0ab70eb594e546cef

4. Kaplan, D. (1997). Was Democracy Just a Moment? The Atlantic. Retrieved December 28, 2013, from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/12/was-democracy-just-a-moment/306022/

5. Ferreira, F. Messina, J. Rigolini, J. López-Calva, L. Lugo, M., Vakis, R. (2013). Economic Mobility and the Rise of the Latin American Middle Class. The World Bank. Retrieved January 05, 2014, from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/LACEXT/Resources/English_Report_midclass.pdf

6. Vindas, L. (2012). Clase medio creció en la última década de la mano con la desigualdad. El Financiero. Retrieved December 28, 2013 from http://www.elfinancierocr.com/economia-y-politica/Clase-crecio-ultima-decada-desigualdad_0_190180985.html

7. Soto. E (2013). Gobierno de Costa Rica tiene el mayor gasto público en Centroamérica. El Financiero. Retrieved December 28, 2013 from http://www.elfinancierocr.com/finanzas/deficit_fiscal-finanzas_publicas-endeudamiento_del_Gobierno-Centroamerica_0_375562458.html

8. Barquero. M. (2011). Aumento en costo de la planilla estatal disparó déficit. La Nación. Retrieved December 28, 2013, from http://www.nacion.com/archivo/Aumento-planilla-estatal-disparo-deficit_0_1170882967.html

9. The Economist Intelligence Unit (2013). Northern Lights. The Economist. Retrieved January 4, 2014, from http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21570840-nordic-countries-are-reinventing-their-model-capitalism-says-adrian

10. The Economist Intelligence Unit (2013). Northern Lights. The Economist. Retrieved January 4, 2014, from http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21570840-nordic-countries-are-reinventing-their-model-capitalism-says-adrian

11. The Economist Intelligence Unit (2013). Northern Lights. The Economist. Retrieved January 4, 2014, from http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21570840-nordic-countries-are-reinventing-their-model-capitalism-says-adrian

12. Transparency International Report (2013). Corruption Perception Index 2013. Transparency International. Retrieved January 8, 2014, from http://www.transparency.org/cpi2013/results

 13. The World Economic Forum (2013). The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013. CINDE. Retrieved January 8, 2014, from http://www.cinde.org/es/educacion

14. Editorial Staff (2012). El ranking mundial de la salud. El economista. Retrieved December 28, 2013, http://www.eleconomista.com.ar/?p=3907

15. The World Bank (2013). Gasto en salud, total (% del PIB). The World Bank. Retrieved December 28, 2013, from http://datos.bancomundial.org/indicador/SH.XPD.TOTL.ZS

16. Transparency International Report (2013). Corruption Perception Index 2013. Transparency International. Retrieved January 8, 2014, from http://www.transparency.org/cpi2013/results

17. Editorial Staff (2013). Why does Singapore top so many tables? BBC News Asia. Retrieved January 08, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24428567

18. Department of Statistics Singapore (2013). Statistics. Singapore Government. Retrieved January 08, 2014, from http://www.singstat.gov.sg/statistics/latest_data.html

19. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore (2012). Small States. Singapore Government. Retrieved January 08, 2014, from http://www.mfa.gov.sg/content/mfa/international_issues/small_states.html

20. Darling-Hammond, L. (2013). What We Can Learn From Finland´s Successful School Reform. National Education Association. Retrieved January 08, 2014, from http://www.nea.org/home/40991.htm

21. Editorial Staff (2012). Honduras: 2000 docentes en huelga en reclamo al pago de sus salaries. Contrainjerencia. Retrieved January 08, 2014, from http://www.contrainjerencia.com/?p=45737

22.  Editorial Staff (2010). 7800 funcionarios administrativos y docentes del MEP reportan problemas de pago en primera quincena de Noviembre. Sindicato de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores de la Educación Costarricense. Retrieved January 08, 2014, from http://secnoticias.blogspot.com/2010/11/7800-funcionarios-administrativos-y.html

23. Villegas, J. (2009). MEP pagará hoy salario atrasado a 4000 docentes. La Nación. Retrieved January 08, 2014, from http://www.nacion.com/nacional/servicios-publicos/MEP-pagara-salario-atrasado-docentes_0_1088691133.html

24. Brenes E. Haar J. (2012). The Future of Entrepreneurship in Latin America. New York. Palgrave Macmillan.

25. Brenes E. Haar J. (2012). The Future of Entrepreneurship in Latin America. New York. Palgrave Macmillan.

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