(Latin Pulse: June 30, 2008) Features former president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo. How is Latin America coping with the issue of poverty? From violence to hungry children on the streets, it is an ailment that has afflicted the region for decades. As Latin America tries to increase trade and strengthen its economies, it is still troubled by the lack of financial resources to fight poverty. But as the pendulum swings back away from free market economies, some are starting to blame multinationals for promoting poverty for their own advantage. Historically the financial health of Latin America has been directly tied to the strength of the U.S. dollar. As the dollar weakens so do Latin America economies, sending the poverty index soaring. En Español El estado de la pobreza en Latino América. ¿Cómo esta Latino América haciéndole frente al problema de la pobreza? Desde la violencia hasta niños hambrientos en las calles, dos caras de las varias caras de la pobreza, una dolencia que ha afectado la región por décadas. Así como América Latina trata de incrementar el comercio para fortalecer sus economías, aún sigue plagada por la falta de recursos financieros para combatir la pobreza. Con el péndulo balanceándose entre las economías de libre mercado, algunos están comenzando a criticar a las compañías multinacionales por promover la pobreza para su conveniencia. Históricamente la salud financiera de Latino América ha estado directamente liada a la fuerza del dólar, sí el dólar se debilita así mismo se ven afectadas las economías Latino Americanas, aumentando vertiginosamente el índice de pobreza en la región. GUESTS: Joy Olson, Executive Director WOLA, Washington Office in Latino America Joy Olsen is a Latin America human rights expert who has directed non-governmental human rights organizations for more than a decade. A policy strategist and a partner in dialogue with U.S. policy and opinion makers in both Washington DC and Latin America, Ms. Olson has a long-standing commitment to promoting greater transparency in U.S. military programs in Latin America. She co-founded the "Just the Facts" project and co-authored its three books on U.S. military programs with Latin America. Her many achievements include campaign leadership to end U.S. government efforts to deport refugees who fled from civil war in El Salvador to the U.S. She led NGO efforts to increase U.S. funding for Central American peace accords implementation and a successful advocacy effort to lift the ban on food and medicine sales to Cuba. Prior to joining WOLA as Executive Director, Ms. Olson served as Director of the Latin America Work Group (LAWG), a coalition of 60 non-governmental organizations working together to promote peaceful and just U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America. A published author in the Latin American human rights field, Ms. Olson did her graduate studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, following two years' work in community development in Honduras. Héctor Perla Jr., Visiting Scholar CLAS, UC Berkeley An assistant professor of Political Science and Latin American Studies at Ohio University, Dr. Perla is currently on leave as a UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow. During 2007-08 Dr. Perla will be a visiting scholar at CLAS, where he will be finishing his book manuscript entitled "Revolutionary Deterrence: U.S. Coercion & Transnational Resistance by Sandinista Nicaragua." The book documents the strategies and tactics used by the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) to resist the Reagan Administration's efforts to oust them from power. It traces the domestic, international and transnational strategies that Nicaraguans both at home and in the diaspora used to sway U.S. public opinion to oppose Reagan's policy and deter him from escalating the conflict. Specifically, this includes analysis of transnational sub-state actors such as religious and secular NGOs, the Central American Diaspora and the Solidarity Movement in the U.S., as well as their impact on public opinion, media framing of the conflict and government officials' decision-making. Alejandro Toledo, Ph.D President of Peru, 2001-2006; President, Global Center for Development and Democracy (GCDD); Payne Distinguished Visiting Lecturer (CDDRL) Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; Distinguished Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), Stanford University Dr. Toledo was president of Peru from 2001 to 2006. Toledo came to international prominence after leading the opposition against President Alberto Fujimori, who held the presidency from 1990 to 2000. After his presidential term, Toledo left Peru and went to the U.S. where he has been a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University during the 2006-2008 academic years. Currently he is a 2007-2008 Payne Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a CDDRL (Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law) visiting scholar. Before being elected president, Toledo worked as a consultant for various international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Labor Organization (ILO), and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He has also been a regular professor at ESAN, Peru's leading Business School. From 1991 to 1994, he was an affiliated researcher in the field of international development at the Harvard Institute for International Development. Toledo was also guest professor at the University of Waseda in Tokyo and at the Japan Foundation. Among Toledo's publications are works on economic growth and on structural reforms. However, his latest book, "Las Cartas sobre la Mesa" ("The Cards on the Table"), describes his political career which led him to found the party Perú Posible ("Possible Peru").