Latin America plugged into the Internet: A comparative study on Internet and cultural policy in three Latin American countries

The Internet as a communications medium is still relatively new in most parts of developing countries and therefore represents a revolution. This project connects the Latin American political background and the most recent information on the development of the information communication technologies. This project studies and compares Internet practices and cultural policies as well as investigates whether cultural policy is shaping the use of the Internet, or if the Internet is shaping the practice of cultural policy in Latin America. This project is taken from the point of view of the government role regarding cultural policy in each studied country. The three countries that have been selected for this project are Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. The methodology employed has been a comparison and analysis of the Internet and cultural policies and of each of countries' websites. The relevance of this study in the field of International Communication is the contribution to the exploration of new social, political and cultural channels of communication in Latin America. Certain limitations have been found in the process of the research and analysis of this project like limitations of resources and age of the available sources, among others. In addition, Latin American continues to change and evolve during the course of this project, not only technologically, but also in the political and cultural dimensions. The conclusions and recommendations of this project are subject to be analyzed and discussed with respect to these constantly changing dimensions. This project has identified several gaps to fill and a new opportunity to fully understand the relationship between cultural policy and the Internet in Latin America.