Resumen
The Lehman Brothers crash in September 2008 marked the beginning of one of the worst years in the history of international financial markets. This event also determined the initiation of the global economic recession which will last at least three years. The data have been confirmed that virtually all industrialized and most emerging countries faced a deep recession, with serious effects on employment and poverty, so the collapse today is similar to the crisis of the thirties. This paper describe how the crisis was conceived in the financial system in the United States and spread to the rest of the industrialized economies. We also describe the transmission channels of the crisis into emerging markets and, in particular, we show the first effects on the major economies of Latin America.