AbstractLatin American societies have experienced excessive income inequality. Several reasons explain this disparity from cultural and economic factors. This research attempts to analyse whether free trade has contributed to increase economic inequality on the region, and whether this relationship is linked with how much countries have liberalised their international trade. For that, quantitative data was analysed using correlation and linear regression for the period 1990-2010 in South America. It was found that pro-market policies have different effects of inequality, according to the country. Received: 21/05/2015 Accepted: 04/11/2015 ResumenLas sociedades latinoamericanas han experimentado altos índices de inequidad económica, explicados por factores culturales y económicos. Esta investigación intenta analizar si el libre comercio ha contribuido a incrementar la inequidad económica en Suramérica para el periodo 1990-2010. Para ello, se analizaron datos cuantitativos usando correlaciones y regresión linear. Se encontró que las políticas de liberalización comercial presentan efectos diferentes sobre la inequidad dependiendo de cada país.Recibido: 21/05/2015 Aceptado: 04/11/2015