For once, Latin America is not catching pneumonia from Washington’s cold.

The crisis that is threatening to contaminate the global financial system has caused an odd role reversal. Amid the turmoil, many Latin American countries find themselves in healthy economic shape compared to the United States and Europe. As a result, the position of progressive governments, a majority in the region, grows stronger.

Fueled by the commodity boom, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela have enjoyed trade surpluses, which have yielded significant cash reserves and allowed for a major reduction of their respective deficits.

What’s more, their financial institutions are in much better shape than their counterparts in the United States and Europe. There’s a reason for this. With the exception of Mexico, which has allied ever more closely with Washington, most major Latin American countries are reaping the benefits of abandoning the free market policies of the ’80s and ’90s.

The International Monetary Fund imposed these policies. When a Latin American country was in debt, the IMF came in and demanded privatization and deregulation — the very model that has caused the global crisis. Fortunately, the increase in revenues from commodities allowed many Latin American countries to get out from under the IMF’s boot. Free, finally, to run their own economies, Latin American nations focused on improving the lives their poor and stressing the importance their own domestic consumer markets play.

Of course, with the contraction of consumer markets in the United States and Europe, exports may drop and trade surpluses may shrink, even disappear. But Latin American countries have diversified their economic ties. They are no longer so dependent on the United States.

For instance, Brazil and Argentina are now each other’s main trade partner. Mercosur, the trading block that is comprised of these two countries along with Paraguay and Uruguay, is expanding to also include Chile, Bolivia and Venezuela. Besides the United States, countries such as China, Russia and India are also major markets for Latin American exports.

Although there should be no doubt that the global crisis will hit Latin America, for the first time in decades a cautious optimism seems to be the prevalent mood in the region. The reasons for such optimism are the newly found regional strength of their economies and the unwavering support of the people for democratically elected governments.

Considering that Latin American nations have survived the demons of economic collapses, debt defaults and hyperinflation and are now thriving economies, perhaps the incoming tenant of the White House could look to the region for solutions to the crisis.

Juan Blanco Prada is a writer and activist living in California. He can be reached at pmproj [at] progressive [dot] org.