Raúl Prebisch 1901-1986

Of one thing we can be absolutely sure: the death of Dr. Prebisch will not mean that his ideas are forgotten or eclipsed They will not, of course, remain unscathed or permanently topical with the passage of time, but they will certainly constitute decisive testimony of the evolution of Latin America in the last half century. No-one reconstructing the region’s history will be able to ignore the constant flow of hypotheses and propositions that sprang from his endeavour to decipher the course of events and conceive solutions to our economic and social problems. For he belonged, without doubt, to those who set themselves the task of both interpreting and transforming the current world; his legacy spread out and took root in wide areas far beyond the academic or institutional spheres. Naturally, the enduring quality of his ideas will not imply absolution on the part of those who criticized them from right and left. Possibly the opposite will occur: their critical scrutiny will be heightened. But the truth is that this will be yet another testimony to their importance: to the fact that it is and will be very difficult to analyse this period without taking into consideration his main appraisals.