HENRY VELTMEYER is Professor of Sociology and International Development at St Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Visiting Professor of Political Science at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico. He has published in areas of sociological theory, Canadian political economy and issues of class and developments in Latin America. He is the author of inter alia The Canadian Class Structure and Canadian Corporate Power, and (with F.Leiva and J.Petras) Poverty and Democracy in Chile. JAMES PETRAS is Professor of Sociology and Latin American studies at Binghamton University. He is the author of over 30 books dealing primarily with Latin America. His most recent book is titled Neoliberalism and Class Conflict in Latin America (Macmillan 1997). He has published over 250 articles in professional journals including the British Journal of Sociology, the American Sociological Review and the Journal of Peasant Studies. He has lectured at major universities in Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia, Asia and North America. He has contributed essays to Le Monde Diplomatique, El Mundo, the Guardian and La Jornada.