THE politics of the post-cold war period were originally dominated by the famous claim of Francis Fukuyama that we had reached “the end of history” — neoliberalism was now the only game in town and in the words of our own champion of Chicago school economics, there was “no alternative” to letting the market run riot.

All of us who believe in prioritising the future of people and planet ahead of private profit owe a huge debt of thanks to left forces in Latin America for providing the first major challenge to this doctrine.

In addition to the remarkable survival of the Cuban revolution, the turn of the century saw what became known as the “pink tide” — the election of numerous governments across the region which shared a common commitment to addressing the needs of the majority and ending the days of being treated as the “back yard” of the US.