Why was most of the population of latin america poor?

Explanation:

The Latin American countries have never had fully democratic systems. Several key pieces are always messing. Some are highly religious (and hence not secular), many were communist or fought civil wars over communism, many were dictatorships, some still don't have full property rights, many don't have any rule of law and hence massive corruption, etc.

“i think it is very plausible that if there are five votes to end the death penalty, it could be with the people who are on the court right now,” - smith

so basically it is not clearly and consistently imposed

the anwser is missions