Manual of the Perfect Latin American Idiot

Controversial. Good-natured. Incisive. Ironic. Capable of provoking heated confrontations. All these adjectives are insufficient to describe The Perfect Latin American Idiot's Handbook .

With a foreword by economist and senator Roberto Campos and an introduction by Mario Vargas Llosa, Manual do Perfeito Idiota Latino-Americano distills, without any sentimentality or paternalism, a fierce critique of the political thought of the Latin American left.

In this delightful anthology, Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner, and Alvaro Vargas Llosa dissect the well-known cultural mentality of Latin American nations, based on intellectual laziness, ethical apathy, civil opportunism, militarism, economic protectionism, political caudillismo, anti-Americanism, xenophobia, anti-liberalism, monopolism, and other “isms.”

Believing themselves to be poor because "they" are rich and vice versa, "the Latin American idiot assumes their incompetence" and absolves themselves of any responsibility. According to the authors, "the idiot" plays the role of eternal victim, always preferring to blame the United States, multinational corporations, and the foreign debt, developing an imaginary masochism and donning the costume of the sufferer.