After a remarkable winning streak by leftwing presidential candidates in Latin America Mexico in 2018, Argentina in 2019, Bolivia in 2020, Peru and Honduras in 2021, and Chile, Colombia and Brazil in 2022 there are strong signs that the pendulum is swinging to the right. In December, impeachment proceedings ended the left’s turbulent tenure Pedro CastilloPeruvian President.
Last Sunday, the conservative candidate Santiago Pena, of the Colorado Party, triumphed in Paraguay’s presidential election. The right gained strength in yesterday’s constituent elections in Chile. In Argentina, all indications are that the left will be crushed in November’s presidential election, and the question now is whether the centreright or the extreme right will win.
In addition, most of the leftwing presidents elected in recent years have faced tremendous opposition from conservative groups. So much Gustav Petro in Colombia how much Gabriel Boric in Chile have so far failed to implement their most important reforms. In Bolivia the President Louis Maple proved unable to contain the country’s worst economic crisis in years.
Colorado Party’s Santiago Peña triumphed in Paraguay’s presidential election Photo: Agustin Marcarian/Portal
Argentine President Fernandez is so unpopular that he has dropped out of reelection. In Brazil the President lula to govern with a Congress so conservative that there is little prospect of pushing forward progressive reforms, either in the area of decriminalizing abortion or rethinking the drug war.
On the one hand, the difficulties faced by many leftwing leaders simply reflect the deep antigovernment sentiment in the region: the vast majority of governments are unpopular public servants due to stagnant economies, still very high rates of violence, and poverty. Finally, dissatisfaction is also present in most rightwing governments, such as Paraguay, Uruguay and Ecuador, where President Lasso could fall at any time.
Series of reports on the left in Latin America
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In addition, the “pink wave” a term used to describe the (re)emergence of leftist presidents in Latin America was flat and failed to produce majorities in parliaments, which explains the fragility of the governments in Santiago, Bogotá and Lima. Most Latin American societies are deeply divided, making it difficult to reach consensus and govern effectively.
However, it would be a mistake to interpret the recent victories of the right as a rejection of those in power. While the Latin American right dominates the debate on a range of issues such as public safety and fighting crime the left is divided on many other relevant aspects: New left leaders like Gabriel Boric are Europeanstyle social democrats and have criticized those of autocratic leftists Abuses committed by leaders in Venezuela and Nicaragua created a sharp split on the left that did not exist during the first “pink wave” of the 2000s.
Likewise, identity agendas today create tensions between leftwing movements and make it difficult to articulate a coherent narrative. Presidents like leftists Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua are conservative in manners and more in line with the vision of former left leaders such as Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Raphael Correa It is Evo Moraleswho showed little interest in identity policies, or were even reluctant to do so.
In a recent interview with Folha de S. Paulo, the former President of Ecuador Raphael Correa was adamant that the focus should be on issues such as abortion and human rights LGBT+ would divert focus from what should be the main agenda of the left: the fight against inequality.
He explained that Latin America “has not even solved the problems of the 18th century, the great contradictions, the general poverty, the inequality and the exploitation, and we are trying to solve the problems of the last generation and to be the world vanguard”, and acknowledged that it considers itself progressive, even claiming that the identity agendas are a conspiracy by rich countries to foster internal conflict in Latin America.
Correa’s division between a left concerned with economic justice and a left concerned with identity policies ignores the fact that it is impossible to talk about inequality without considering the rights of women and minorities. However, his comment shows that the Latin American left currently appears to be having more difficulty developing a clear narrative than the right, whose message on issues of public safety, conservatism and the traditional family leaves less room for divisions between various rightwing movements.