It may not be a return of the “Pink Tide” of leftist governments that swept into power across South America in the early 2000s—and were largely swept out again amid a conservative backlash in the mid-2010s. But the region’s left has been showing signs of a revival.
In Argentina’s October 2019 presidential election, the moderate-left Peronist candidate, Alberto Fernandez, ousted the market-friendly incumbent, Mauricio Macri, whose austerity measures and heavy borrowing triggered an economic crisis that cost him the presidency. In October 2020, Bolivia returned the Movement Toward Socialism to power in the first presidential election since Evo Morales was ousted, and the following year Pedro Castillo, a far-left teacher with no previous experience as an elected official, won Peru’s presidential election. Gabriel Boric, a former student protest leader and leftist legislator, became the youngest president in Chile’s history after taking office in March 2022, while Gustavo Petro became the first leftist president in Colombia’s modern history last August. And former Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva defeated the country’s far-right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro in October.
The conservative wave that followed the Pink Tide, beginning with Bolsonaro’s victory in Brazil in 2018, has not yet entirely receded, though. In Uruguay, conservatives took control of the government in 2019 from the leftist Broad Front coalition that had been in power for a decade and a half. Guillermo Lasso, a conservative former banker, won Ecuador’s presidential election in May 2021, while Argentina’s ruling Peronist government suffered a major setback in midterm elections in November of the same year and appears weak ahead of this year’s presidential election. In Paraguay, the right-wing candidate of the ruling Colorado Party, Santiago Pena, won the recent presidential election there.
Venezuela’s regime remains as the last holdout of South America’s original Pink Tide. But the Bolivarian revolution that began under former President Hugo Chavez has transformed into an economic and humanitarian disaster under his successor, Nicolas Maduro. The attempt to dislodge Maduro and replace him with Juan Guaido in 2018 gained the support of the U.S. as well as governments across the region and the world. But that effort flagged, and Guaido was recently replaced as the leader of the political opposition, which is now struggling to maintain relevance ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Major advances in the region are also in danger. Colombia’s fragile peace process faltered after former President Ivan Duque’s hostility to the deal resulted in half-hearted implementation of its measures. Petro has promised to revive the deal with the FARC while seeking a broader peace with other insurgencies and armed groups that still operate in the country, but so far his efforts have delivered disappointing results. Meanwhile, the illicit drug trade is booming, as is organized crime, even as corruption continues to flourish. The coronavirus pandemic added another immense challenge to South America’s public health systems and economies. And now the spike in food and energy prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is poised to introduce further economic upheaval, with potential political consequences.
Perhaps more than questions of right and left, though, what most characterizes South America today is a sense of instability and democratic fragility. Peru’s Castillo was removed as president in December 2022 after a shambolic 18 months in office that culminated in an attempted self-coup, setting off a political crisis and ongoing protests that continue to threaten the country’s democracy. Followers of Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in Brasilia after Lula’s inauguration in what some consider to have been a bungled coup attempt. And in Ecuador, Lasso recently invoked a constitutional clause to dissolve congress and call new legislative and presidential elections, in which he has announced he won’t run. A region that until recently was a haven of democratic stability now seems to be struggling to find its way.
WPR has covered South America in detail and continues to examine key questions about what will happen next. How will the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, combined with the impact of war in Ukraine, affect the region’s political landscape? What’s ahead in efforts to address Venezuela’s political and humanitarian crises? And how will Washington approach relations with the region’s new wave of leftist leaders to counter Russian and Chinese influence? Below are some of the highlights of WPR’s coverage.
Our Latest Coverage
A Surge in Crime and Violence Has Ecuador Reeling
Ecuador might be caught up in a political crisis, with President Guillermo Lasso having dissolved the National Assembly and called snap elections for later this year. But if you ask most Ecuadorians what they are worried about, they won’t tell you politics. They will say crime and public authorities’ inability to stop it.
Politics
Right-wing and center-right governments still control Ecuador, Uruguay and Paraguay. In part a reaction to the years of leftist rule, the right’s rise in the late 2010s was also fueled by the emergence of major corruption scandals that tainted politicians and parties across the region. But the left has demonstrated resilience as a political force. In Bolivia, for instance, the party of former President Evo Morales regained power in the first elections after his ouster. Peruvian voters also opted for the far-left candidate Pedro Castillo in that country’s presidential election last year, although for many it was due to a lack of other acceptable options. And while Lula’s return in Brazil has captured worldwide attention, for many, Chilean President Gabriel Boric and his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, represent a “new” new left, combining a progressive vision with a pragmatic willingness to compromise.
- How a wild scandal involving two of Petro’s closest political confidantes has further threatened his already struggling presidency, in Another Scandal Puts Colombia’s Petro in Even Hotter Water
- Why Petro is struggling to advance his ambitious reform agenda, in Petro’s Domestic Agenda Has Hit a Wall in Colombia
- Why Paraguay’s president-elect won’t have a honeymoon period, in In Paraguay, the Colorado Party’s Election Sweep Is a Pyrrhic Victory
- Why Chile’s far right now controls the process to draft a new constitution that was initially proposed by the left, in Boric Faces Another Setback on the Road to Chile’s New Constitution
Security and Drugs
The drug trade is booming, particularly in Colombia, where cocaine production is at an all-time high. That has fueled violence and put state legitimacy at risk across swathes of the continent. Some leaders, desperate for a solution, are responding with growing militarization. Meanwhile, labor advocates, Indigenous leaders and civil society remain vulnerable to political violence.
- How Boric’s domestic agenda got sidetracked by spiraling crime, in A Surge in Violent Crime Is Putting Chile’s Boric in the Hot Seat
- How Colombia’s armed groups are using less visible forms of violence to consolidate their foothold in rural areas, in Colombia’s ‘Invisible’ Violence Persists Despite Petro’s ‘Total Peace’
- Why South America’s new crop of leftist leaders is now on the hook for the region’s deep-rooted security challenges, in Latin America’s Left Is Paying the Political Price for Security Failures
- Why it’s easier to criticize the failed “war on drugs” than to develop and implement alternatives, in Ending the ‘War on Drugs’ Is Much Easier Said Than Done
Venezuela
The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela is deepening, even as the standoff between Maduro and the opposition seems to have been won by the Chavista regime. Though his claim to the presidency was backed by much of the continent, along with Washington, Guaido failed to dislodge Maduro. Now Maduro, who oversaw the country’s economic freefall, appears to have decisively sidelined the opposition, in part due to the support of the Venezuelan military.
- Why there will be no resolving South America’s migrant crisis without resolving Venezuela’s political crisis, in The Solution to South America’s Migrant Crisis Lies in Venezuela
- What a recent corruption scandal reveals about the inner workings of the Maduro regime, in A Corruption Scandal Puts Maduro’s Shadowy Fixer in the Spotlight
- Why governments across the region should keep a close eye on cost-of-living protests in Venezuela, in Protests in Peru and Venezuela Should Be a Warning for Latin America
- How recognizing Guaido as interim president ultimately created numerous foreseeable diplomatic challenges, in Recognizing Guaido as Venezuela’s President Now Looks Like a Failed Strategy
Corruption
Corruption scandals, which proliferated under the left-wing administrations of the Pink Tide, helped drive the ascent of the right. But the scandal involving payoffs by the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht across the region also took down center-right politicians. Corruption remains high on the list of voters’ grievances, even as the pandemic has increased both the opportunities for and the costs of graft and impunity. Unless it is brought under control, corruption might ultimately undermine the region’s democratic institutions.
- Why Colombia’s president could pay the price for his relatives’ misbehavior, in A Family Corruption Scandal Could Be Costly for Colombia’s Petro
- Why corruption scandals will make it harder for the leaders of Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia to advance their agendas regardless of whether they’re proven or not, in Corruption Charges Are Flying in Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia
- Why a corruption scandal could make Uruguay’s president politically toxic in the runup to next year’s elections, in A Corruption Scandal Is Making Waves in ‘Squeaky-Clean’ Uruguay
- Why Castillo could be the next Peruvian president brought down by corruption charges, in Peru’s Castillo Is His Own Worst Enemy
Trade and Economic Development
Moscow and Beijing have been eager to increase their economic ties to South America, leveraging the unease that was caused by former President Donald Trump’s mixed messages to the region. Washington has pushed back, warning that the two powers are looking to sow disorder on the continent. Meanwhile, South American economies, already hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, are in for more turmoil due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Why Lula needs to make a better case for a regional currency, in Lula’s Push for a South American Currency Will Be a Tough Sell
- Why a “green job market” won’t solve Chile’s labor problems, in ‘Green Jobs’ Alone Are No Magic Bullet for Chile’s Informal Economy
- How Chile and Argentina could manage their lithium reserves better, in Chile and Argentina Are Playing Against Type on Lithium Mining
- Why regional governments should be considering AI’s potential impacts and figuring out how to adapt now, before job losses hit, in Latin America Needs to Start Preparing for AI’s Economic Impact
Read all of our coverage of South America.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in May 2019 and is regularly updated.