income per head of population obscure this
because they are averages: the poor were much
worse off than the average. Simply absorbing the
young and providing some employment for them
when nearly half the population was aged under
twenty was a formidable problem. Urbanisation
and the growth of mega-million cities magnified
the problem. The power base of the energetic
political leaders of Latin America was fragile and
their austerity policies to cure inflation were
deeply unpopular. The leaders themselves were all
too often tempted by the fruits of office.