some of which cherish their links with Cuba and relish throwing it in the face of the U.S. administration which has shown itself to be extraordinarily ideological and non-pragmatic, now outnumber right-of-centre governments in the region. The days of the US-supported and instigated right-wing dictatorships and military rule are over, having long disappeared in the dustbins of history and replaced by a new breed of neoliberal regimes. Latin America turns left? These regimes in appearance (that is, as constructed in the rhetoric of public discourse) have changed or are changing economic course, ostensibly moving away from the neoliberal policies pushed by the US. Argentina: This was the case in Argentina, for example where the Kirchner administration was compelled by the most serious economic and political crisis in itshistory to confront the IMF and the World Bank, and the US, by halting payments on the country’s external debt, redirecting import revenues towards productive and social investments. This included short-term work projects demanded by the mass of unemployed workers that at the time and constituted over 25% of the labor force who had taken to the streets, picketing highways in protest. The result: some three years later is an annual growth rate of 8%, the highest in the region. Brazil: Another example of apparent regime change was in Brazil, where and when in October 2002 the electorate after his third attempt, voted Ignacio [Lula] da Silva, leader of the PT Workers Party, into power, re-electing him in 2006 to a second term in office. The first President