Dude, same boat here, I am from South America, and I absolutely agree that we are basically screwed with every populist regime that comes and goes, regardless if they call themselves left wing or right wing. In the end, they are all just corrupt imbeciles making a buck off of other’s misery and hunger.
The problem with Chinese money is that it will end the same way US money ended in the 80s/90s: indebted countries with massive inflation.
Mercosur is negotiating a deal with the EU, which should improve things a little, though, even though I was raised in Europe, I can tell you that it will be same shit, different continent.
I gave up trying to find the less bad player here. And don’t forget that some of the world biggest predators, including Nestle, Santander, Lloyds and Danone are European.
What South America needs is to get rid of populism, but I reckon an alien invasion is more likely. The way Argentinian elections are shaping up to happen, with Massa and the Kirchners not wanting to give up power; Brazil electing populist imbeciles like Lula and Bolsonaro; Chile stuck on drafting a new constitution; Peru dealing with protests and a regime that wants to amass more power; Colombia trying to survive the FARCs with peace agreements; Bolivia trying to stabilize itself after some really turbulent times; and Uruguay, well, swinging from left to right, I reckon we are ways from solving any issues.
So might as well embrace the Chinese, since there is not much left to lose. Just without any illusions that what they are doing will be any good to anyone in the long run, like US money from the 50s was.
And don’t worry, discussing Latam politics as a whole makes anyone sound sassy.