As economic challenges increase the desperation of the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean, responsible leaders in the region strive to promote institutional democracy and economic liberalization while fending off populist charlatans. Former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) put this formula to work in his troubled country, restoring confidence in democratic institutions, reinvigorating a stagnant economy, empowering millions of poor, and challenging corrupt and entrenched interests in his struggle against the autocratic regime of the previous president, Alberto Fujimori. During his administration, Toledo managed to strike a balance between long-term investments in infrastructure and social programs and responsible fiscal policies. His legacy is a free trade agreement with the United States, a sound energy policy, and the opportunity for millions of Peruvians to build more prosperous and promising futures. At this AEI event, Toledo will address the ways in which democratic capitalism--not authoritarian populism--can offer the people of the Americas a brighter future. He will also explain what the United States can do to help.

AEI's Mauro De Lorenzo and Adolfo Franco, a former assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Agency for International Development, will provide an American perspective. AEI's Roger F. Noriega will moderate.