Buenos Aires - The US mortgage and credit crisis is sending shivers down the spines of most of the world.

But some in Latin America - the traditional "backyard" of the United States - are looking for a silver lining in the gloomy cloud, while many others will likely suffer.

Mexican multi-billionaire Carlos Slim thinks Latin America's markets can be at least "part of the solution" for the troubled northern giant at times of crisis, and that they are "going to become important for the economy of the United States."

But political leaders across the region, and its millions of poor, probably have more to fear than the second-richest man in the world.

Mexico and Central America are particularly badly placed. The remittances from their expatriates in the United States are both large in volume and key to these countries' economies.

They have already started to decline from the ongoing crisis.

About one-third of El Salvador's total population of 5.7 million people lives in the US. Remittances constitute 17 per cent of El Salvador's GDP and, while they continue to rise despite the difficult economic setting, the rate of growth is lower than it used to be, dropping from about 6.1 per cent to 4.4 per cent.

For Mexico, the world's thirteenth-largest economy and whose citizens constitute 5.1 per cent of the US workforce, things were looking even worse.

"In the first eight months of 2008 the volume of remittances amounted to 15.5 billion dollars, which meant an annual drop of 4.2 per cent," Mexico's central bank said this week.

But the US finance crisis provided welcome fodder to the region's leftist leaders, who celebrated a sort of Schadenfreude and used the failure of so-called "neo-liberalism," as extreme capitalism is known, to strengthen their position internally.

"We Argentines are firm at a moment of profound introspection," said Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner last month. She noted that a system once held up as the best way for an economy to function "is crumbling."

As to the current status of her own country - whose economy suffered a major crash of its own, leading to a debt default of over 90 billion dollars in 2001 - Fernandez de Kirchner was almost boastful.

"Here we are in the middle of the storm, firm, rebuilt and ready to keep facing the present and the future," she said.

Latin America's natural leader, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was at first keen to stay clear of the issue.

"People ask me about the crisis, and I answer, go ask Bush. It is his crisis, not mine. I have to look after my country so that it is not affected," Lula said.

Later, as the Brazilian stock market had to close for a brief time as stocks plunged on bad news from the US, Lula changed his tone, insisting that the United States take care of the mess in world markets.

"The emerging countries that did everything right cannot now be victims of the casino that (the bankers) set up in the United States," Lula said.

"It is time for the US Congress to take on the responsibility that corresponds to it. They created the problem, and that is why it is they who have to solve it," he insisted.

South American countries have diversified their trade, unlike the US-dependent Mexico, and feel they can stand a fair amount of turmoil in the world economy.

And yet they know that their exports may indeed suffer, particularly if the crisis continues to get more serious. Commodity prices are already falling, access to funds is restricted, and there is only so far any country or region can go in protecting itself from a global crash.

Everyone is convinced by now that this is no ordinary market turbulence.

Indeed, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez defined it as "the perfect crisis."

"The world crisis is complete, because it is not just economic, it is political, it is ethical, environmental, food-related, energy- related. This crisis is something like the crisis that no one wants, the perfect crisis (in which) all variants joined into one and it is a real threat for the world," Chavez said.

Latin America is not looking forward to the ride.

But the region knows it is better prepared to face this crisis than it would have been years ago. And, if Slim's proven aptitude for business is anything to go by, the region may yet benefit from the global crash. (dpa)