John Perkins’s New York Times bestseller Confessions of an Economic Hit Man confirms every bad thing you ever thought about how U.S. corporations and government conduct business, hand-in-boxing-glove, in third world countries – from the inside perspective of a onetime evil-doer. The economist who used to do the bidding of big business in such places as Indonesia and Panama spoke at Books & Books in Coral Gables July 12, to promote his new book, The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption. He was a charming, convincing, sometimes dramatic speaker: “After 9/11, as I looked down into that smoldering pit, I knew that I had to tell this story,’’ he said, explaining why he finally broke his silence on deeds that had troubled him for years.  

 

Perkins wasn’t all doom and gloom; having just come from visiting several Latin American heads of state, like Evo Morales, he’s optimistic. “They give us tremendous hope,’’ he said. “Change can happen and it can happen peacefully.”

Among the hundreds packed into the room were Sting and Trudie Styler, in Miami for the Police tour. Styler spoke about her own recent experiences in the Ecuadorian rain forest, seeing the tragic effects on children of environmental destruction caused by oil companies. With gold bangles sparkling on her wrist and her and her husband’s perfect blond looks (“Sting and Bling,” one wag called them), it was hard to envision Styler as the voice of the downtrodden. But she too spoke passionately, her voice shaking.

Sting sat in the audience. Afterwards, he told MOLI he was there as a friend and fan of Perkins. “For the first time, having read both books, it explained to me why the third world was so poor,” the Police man said. “It explained to me what the process of how that happened is, and how we need to change it.’’ (Photos by Susie J. Horgan)