Bare essentials.

Demonstrations--common on the streets of Latin America and historically violent--have taken a turn for the burlesque. Knowing that it's often better to be seen than heard, rural Mexican farmers stripped down to their underwear in April to demand more access to farmland and the dismissal of an official in Veracruz state accused of human rights abuses. Traditional marches of the past go unnoticed but it's pretty hard for TV cameras not to pick up on a million-underwear march.

Technology and connectedness are making a difference. Once, the state could manipulate information, snuffing out opposition by controlling the press, particularly television. The rise of widespread cellular phone coverage, Internet and satellite news--especially foreign channels--means everyone knows and sees what's going on. (Consider, for instance, the overnight, bloodless coups in Eastern Europe of late.) Ten percent of Latin Americans now have access to the Web, expected to double by 2010. More information, more quickly is raising the pressure on leaders, shorting out a once-plodding political process, for better or worse.

MARCOS DELGADO/EPA * MEXICO CITY, MEXICO