South America: Mercosur’s Cooperatives in an Age of Integration http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/2480-south-america-mercosurs-cooperatives-in-an-age-of-integration

Ironically, subsequent US-backed South American dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s did their best to put a can on the sometimes-vibrant coop movements the Alliance program had just helped to encourage. As did the deregulated markets of the neoliberal 1990s, which, advertently or not, pulled the rug out from under some of the oldest co-op experiences in the region.

Then with the 2001 economic crash in Argentina (and to a lesser extent Uruguay and Brazil), recuperated factories, businesses, and worker collectives across the region sprang onto the scene like never before as a means for workers to continue producing even after the factory doors were closed. 

“We, the workers began to say, the buildings are here, the machines are here, and so are the workers. The only thing missing is the boss. Let's continue to produce, and that's what we did.” says Jose Abelli, co-founders of the Argentina’s National Movement of Recuperated Businesses (MNER) and President of the Argentine Federation of Self-governed Worker Cooperatives (FACTA).