Surprisingly, support for capitalism in Latin America on rise despite leftist leaders

This may come as a surprise, but support for the free market is reaching record highs in Latin America. And what’s even more amazing, capitalism is most popular in countries where leftist leaders lash out against it on a daily basis.

In theory, this could pave the way for a golden era for foreign and domestic investors in the region.

The startling information about the rise of pro-capitalist sentiment in Latin America is part of soon-to-be-released figures from Latinobarometro, an annual regional survey. According to the data, the percentage of people in the region who agree with the premise that “the free market is the only path to development” reached a record 69 percent in 2017, up from 57 percent when the question was first asked 14 years ago.