[Reflections on traditional medicine in Latin America and the Caribbean]

This dialogue seeks to problematize the relevance and implications of calling medicine the systems of knowledge and practices known as ancestral, complementary, natural, and traditional medicine in the context of Latin America and the Caribbean. The current reflection is based on reflective-analytical and constructive-interpretive methods and is guided by the philosophical paradigm of hermeneutics. A spectrum of pragmatic convergences with biomedicine is identified (integration into services and the search for evidence), but divergences in the conception of the relationship between body, health, disease, environment, and the validation of knowledge. The Latin American and Caribbean region shows normative progress, although challenges persist in intercultural implementation and equitable recognition. Power tensions are evident and effective integration requires overcoming assimilationist models, which is why it is necessary to adopt interculturality as an operational principle, develop mixed research methodologies, and guarantee a dialogue of knowledges that respects cognitive justice and health sovereignty in all spaces.