Latin America

Politics in Latin America is in a state of fl ux, caught between the right and the left. In the presidential elections in Chile, the voting of Gabriel Boric—the youngest president in the history of the Chilean Republic (36 years old)—to power marked the end of the traditional alternation of power between the centre-right and centre-left since the return to democracy in the 1990s.

Some characteristics of the contemporary phase of global neo-liberalism in light of the recent coup organised by the extreme right-wing forces in Bolivia against the leftist President Evo Morales in 2019 are examined. Despite having minuscule popular support, the backing of the armed forces and United States imperialism emboldened the post-coup government to aggressively restore neo-liberal policies in an unabashedly dictatorial fashion. The coup in Bolivia becomes a paradigmatic case that highlights how neo-liberalism as a political–economic doctrine continues to articulate with racism and religious fundamentalism to establish and maintain its dominance.

Starting from Hugo Chávez’s electoral victory in 1998 to the resounding victory of the Bolivian indigenous leader Evo Morales in 2006, a sequence of leftist governments with explicitly anti-neo-liberal programmes rose to power in various regions of Latin America. But a little more than a decade later, there are indications that the “pink tide” is beginning to ebb. In Argentina, the centre-right is in power, ending 12 years of left rule. Even in Venezuela and Brazil, recent trends point towards an unmistakable resurgence of right-wing forces. How does one interpret these changes? Does the current crisis mark the end of the Latin American left? While seeking to answer some of these questions, an understanding of the achievements and limitations of the “left turn” in Latin American politics is presented.

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