Our continent continues to be the scenario of the most important struggles in the world today: against neoliberalism and for the construction of alternatives to the model capitalism has assumed in this period of history. The neoliberal recovery appears to be short of breath. The spectacular defeat of Macri, of the dimensions of the euphoria that his previous victory had awakened. Evo stands firm against the offensive of the right, despite having lost some support. In Uruguay, the Frente Amplio continues to be the largest political force, but will face a difficult challenge in the second round, due to the loss of support and the sum of the votes for right-wing candidates. In Colombia, the municipal elections represent a harsh defeat for the president, Ivan Duque, representative of the Uribist* tendency; meanwhile, candidates from the popular camp, and those linked to the new leader of the left, Gustavo Petro, have gained strength.

Argentina confirms the weak points of neoliberalism: that the right has no alternative to propose, that it has not learned from the failure of its model, that  it was mistaken with respect to the success of anti neo-liberal governments; it has returned with its policy of budgetary adjustments and revealed its incapacity not only to resume economic growth and to fight unemployment, but also, as a consequence of this, to acquire a sufficient support base to be able to have governments with political stability.

Despite the reconstitution of the right-wing, Evo relied on his grassroots support, largely from the indigenous movement, to resist, triumph in the elections and win a new mandate, which is important not just in order to complete the extraordinary economic recovery and the social and ethnic gains in Bolivia, but also so as to rebuild his political support base.

In Colombia, another neoliberal government is paying the price for the corrosion of this model, as well as the repressive and authoritarian policy of Uribism, which this president has reproduced.  The government was defeated on all fronts, beginning with Bogota and Medellin, projecting a defeat in the next presidential elections which could favour Petro.

Bur Latin America does not only vote for the left, but is also fighting on the left. It is pulling apart the neoliberal model in its central axis – Chile – and destroying the possibility of Moreno to re-establish neoliberalism in Ecuador. Popular outbursts were the response of the people to measures of budgetary adjustment, which have led to their retraction by Piñera and Moreno, revealing that their model is openly anti-popular and that the people have become aware and do not accept the continuation of anti-popular measures. These governments are running out of steam. In Ecuador, a return to governments linked to Rafael Correa is in view. In Chile, where the traditional right led the opinion polls, the left, especially the Frente Amplio, has a new opportunity to polarize the vote against the Piñera government.

The first decade of the twenty-first century in Latin America was clearly left-wing, featuring as protagonists the anti-neoliberal governments and their leaders – Hugo Chávez, Lula, Nestor and Cristina Kirchner, Pepe Mujica, Evo Morales, Rafael Correa – offering the principal left-wing leadership in the world. The conservative counteroffensive was imposed in the second decade of the new century, with the victories of Macri and Bolsonaro, the about-turn of the government of Moreno, the international isolation of the government of Maduro, against the background of the election of Trump and the victory of Brexit.

This offensive has later revealed its weaknesses, beginning with Trump and Brexit, the ending of the Salvini government in Italy, the defeat of Netanyahu in Israel, and then consecrated by the remarkable victory of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner, that of Evo Morales, and the fantastic mobilizations in Ecuador and Chile. China is reasserting itself as the great power of the XXI Century and the BRICS as the project for construction of a bipolar world, as an alternative to the imperial hegemony of the US, in decline. The third decade promises to be that of the recuperation of the left and the decline of the right in Latin America.

29/10/2019

(Translated for ALAI by Jordan Bishop)

-Emir Sader, Brazilian Sociologist and Political Scientist, is the Coordinator of the Laboratory of Public Policy of the Universidad Estadual de Rio de Janeiro (UERJ)