First Bolivia with Luis Arce, then Peru with Pedro Castillo, Chile continued with Gabriel Boric, and in 2022 elections await us in Colombia (May) and in Brazil (October). The last two are unknowns, of course, but candidates from the left have possibilities, who would join their colleagues on a map that changes the political color of Latin America.
Last Sunday there was a historic event in the Chilean electoral processes, Gabriel Boric won the presidency, becoming the youngest president of Chile at 35 years old, returning the Andean country to a progressive political space that flees from the Pinochetist reminiscences so present in its recent history. Boric will try to launch a modern social democracy adapted to Chilean needs, placing in that political space all the parties that supported him to be president.
That type of policy that Boric intends to carry out has nothing to do with the one promised by Pedro Castillo in Peru, who being a clearly left-wing politician, contributes very different elements. The first is his origin, a rural teacher, knowledgeable about Peru that was hidden from many previous rulers. Lima lost to the Peruvian countryside for the first time, and Castillo will have to deal with many difficulties and opposition; He has already moderated his speech in the middle of the campaign, and as an extreme measure, the promise to nationalize strategic companies for the country, with mining as a banner, can be highlighted.
The Bolivian Luis Arce is an economist, general accountant and university professor, with that profile he presides over Bolivia, characteristics very different from those of former president Evo Morales, who continues to be the leader of the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party. Arce is less media-oriented, austere, he works quietly, forming a cabinet of progressive technocrats with whom he intends to favor the country’s most underprivileged population, strengthen the middle class and maintain a less violent relationship than Morales with his more radical opponents in the country. Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
The characteristics of the populations of the three countries mentioned are different, but there are coincidences that cause very different left to preside over Bolivia, Peru and Chile: social inequality, rich countries that have been impoverished, high levels of corruption to fight against, terrible previous steps in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic that devastated them, and continues to wreak havoc.
Duque’s Colombia and Bolsonaro’s Brazil will have elections next year, the presidential struggles will be tough and there are possibilities that left-wing candidates will take power, no security, but clear options.
The Latin American map has already changed substantially if we look at the political color of its leaders, but it can change even more. This may even affect some of the integration processes in the region, encouraging some that seemed already dead, such as UNASUR, and putting others that were being born, such as PROSUR, against the ropes. Bilateral relations between countries can also be modified, reaching understandings that previously seemed impossible.
In short, a different period opens in which the possibilities of making a stronger region are clear. These new leaders have in their hands to fulfill their promises and move forward giving Latin America another chance, we will see as the months go by.
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