Latin America’s new era

(Photo: Natacha Pisarenko – AP)

Bolivian President Evo Morales’ defeat in last week’s referendum to extend his term in office is a new sign of the demise of Latin America’ leftist populist leaders, and of the beginning of a new political cycle in the region — the era of pragmatism.

After twenty five-years of ideological slogans — first with the pro-free market governments of the 1990s, and most recently with late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s “Socialism of the 20th Century” revolution in the 2000’s — Latin Americans are suffering from political fatigue.

Voters in Argentina, Venezuela, and Bolivia have dealt crushing defeats to their countries’ leftist populist leaders in recent months, despite facing seemingly unsourmountable electoral obtacles. There are also signs that political winds are changing in Ecuador and in Brazil, the region’s biggest country.

Last November, Argentina elected President Mauricio Macri, a center-right engineer who shuns ideological labels and presents himself as a doer. He stands in sharp contrast with his predecessor, former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who was an ally of Venezuela and made fiery speeches against U.S.-style capitalism almost daily.

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