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I think that the first one to do so would maybe be Chile. I think Argentina used to be really rich but socialism and the dictatorship of Juan Peron really hurt the country and sent it to the crapper. I think that Venezuela could've been actually really rich and developed if it weren't for socialism and Hugo Chavez. Uruguay and Chile would probably be the closest. For Mexico I don't see that happen until 2030 or something. For Chile I could see that happen in maybe 3 or 4 years.
Based off my perceptions which have no real substance:
Chile
Uruguay
Mexico
Brazil
Panama
Brazil and Mexico because they seem to have the true blue potential if they just do some cleaning up, Urguay and Chile because they look like very nice and maintained countries, and Panama because of the canal and Panama City. Though, I think Panama is kind of an outlier compared to the rest, but still the next closest thing I could think of.
Costa Rica is nice and beautiful. Though wealthy relative to it's central american neighbors or other latin american neighbors, I don't think that it's big enough to make an impact in international or world affairs, not enough to be influential in the world... I don't think Even Chile would much less Costa Rica..
Costa Rica relies heavily on tourism, but does not have the industries like Chile.
Chile is well on it's way to being "first world", however the rest of Latin America still has a lot of work to do. Chile is #1 with the next country being pretty far behind.
As long as Chile keeps doing what they're doing they will be considered a developed country by 2020. Brasil has far too much poverty and corruption, I don't know much about Uruguay to really comment on it. Mexico has way too many problems to sort through, but they also have a possibility in the future. Argentina really had a chance not too long ago. I think Argentina could make a comeback, although it seems like they are going the opposite way.
Colombia continues to make progress, Venezuela is in horrible condition. Panama is a good choice also.
Chile by 2016-2018
Uruguay has seen some economical turmoil and It's nominal gdp has suffered. They also are way behind Chile in infrastructure... No subway for example. Chile's gdp per capital nominal is 50% higher than Uruguay.
If the trend continues, I would bet my money on Costa Rica overtaking Uruguay. The only other country is Argentina, but it is in a crisis again so I think it's safe to rule it out
Personally, I would put the pecking order like this:
Chile
Panama
Maybe Mexico
Everywhere else ranges from completely lost cases (Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia, etc) to a will see what happens types (Argentina*, Uruguay, Costa Rica*, Dominican Republic*, Colombia).
* The countries with the asterisk I think could do it if they manage to control the massive illegal immigration from their poorer neighbors. Without this any gains will be annulled by the ever increasing mass of destitute people.
Development generally follows a high urbanization rate. Call Venezuela a lost cause all you want, but some good governance could easily get them on track in less than a decade with all of their resources and latent wealth. Venezuela's urbanization rate is higher than Chile and Uruguay which today are the two leaders in this "race".
Brazil and Mexico are making progress because of increased urbanization rates, but the 20% or so which is not urban is what is really preventing the development. Either both have to figure out way to make farming less equal to severe poverty or they have to get more people away from the farms and into urban areas. Neither are popular routes, but this is the way to making them fully developed nations.
Most of the medium and large cities in Latin America are fairly close or essentially developed, with some not so well functioning areas holding them back somewhat. But still people crowded into a makeshift house are better off in most cases than trying to be subsistence farmers.
The bottom line in this race to develop always comes down to how a country can supply and support itself from farmland without the farmland being the lowest developed class. This is why developed countries are what they are, almost all have fairly well off farmers producing at incredibly productive levels.
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