The Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) approach has been a powerful and influential analytical instrument of the older literature on comparative capitalism. Initially designed for immediate application in developed capitalist economies of the North, it has been used to explain economic and institutional aspects in different contexts. This work raises the question about the adequacy and sufficiency of this approach to understand the developing economies in Latin America. Starting from one of the theoretical applications of this approach to analyze the political economies of the region and proceeding to a critical evaluation of the success of such application, the hypothesis of this study is that, while useful to explain many aspects of these developing economies, it is insufficient and flawed regarding its complete understanding, mainly because it fails to capture the state's leading role inside these mode of capitalism.