Americas Quarterly

Innovators and innovations in the hemisphere

partnering with Universidad Santo Tomás on research and, in 2006, received $100,000 from Fundación CO-PEC, which funds research initiatives that maximize Chile’s natural resources. Last year, Garretón was one of five young entrepreneurs honored at the “How to Lead in the 21st Century Conference” organized by the Diario Financiero in Santiago.

But Garretón’s success has not prevented her from arguing that the Chilean biotech industry still requires a lot more investment and researchers to compete with Argentina, Brazil and Peru—all of which have more developed biotech sectors.

Garretón’s kits, expected to be available for sale in 2011, will help strengthen her argument. And so will her next major research product: developing similar early-warning kits for the swine and dairy industries.

Pérez has exploited his contacts and
alliances in Argentina’s polarized
politics to promote the Fondo del
Ingreso Ciudadano de la Niñez (IN-

18 members of Congress among its participants.

Pérez has led initiatives to establish live TV broadcasts of all sessions of Congress and to make the National Institute for Statistics and Census (INDEC) more independent from the executive office. “The INDEC has been completely distorted in the last couple years,” he says. “We’re working to restore its independence and strengthen other institutions.” The replacement of independent technocrats with staff loyal to the government has undermined confidence in economic statistics produced by the government, scaring off investors and creating insecurity over the actual rate of inflation.

CINI), a law similar to other countries’ conditional-cash transfer programs. First presented in Congress in 1997, the legislation would provide indigent Argentine families monthly allowances of up to 200 Argentine pesos ($65) on the condition that their children remain in school. The bill was killed in the Senate in 2004. Last year, Pérez played a key role in courting colleagues in Congress to support the bill, which will be presented again in December 2009.

A member of Red Acción Política, a Buenos Aires-based NGO that promotes dialogue across party lines,

Perez’ cross-party activism has won him recognition at home and abroad. In 2008 he was one of five legislators to receive a “merit diploma” (an award only given every ten years) for outstanding public service from Fundación Konex, a Buenos Aires-based organization that awards public figures for their contributions to Ar-

gentine society. The year before, he was selected by his peers to win the Premio Par-lamentario for his legislative work.

One of Pérez’ primary commitments is finding ways to mobilize a new generation in Argentina’s political life. He believes that many young Argentines are disengaged from politics because they perceive politics as “…corrupt and deceptive.”

“We can show young people that politics is a noble activity, “ he says, “And that it can change people’s lives. Young people need to see that politics can be done another way.”

ALFREDO SRUR

Adrián Pérez was only 12 when former Argentine President Raúl Alfonsín came to power in 1983. But Pérez remembers it as a moment of promise for his generation, a time when the country seemed prepared to finally turn the page on its near half century of fractured politics and military rule.

Pérez has not lost his faith in that promise. In fact, he has become a leading crusader for nonpartisan reform. Now 38, he represents the province of Buenos Aires as a national deputy in the lower house of Congress. Elected in 2003 with the Affirmation for an Egalitarian Republic Party (ARI), he is the president and co-founder of the center-left Coalición Cívica(Civic Coalition), which counts