Gustavo Petro, the new leftist president of Colombia, plans to fully implement the 2016 peace accords that ended the decades-long civil war, to drastically reduce the country’s 40% poverty rate, and introduce a new national healthcare system. Gimena Sanchez of the Washington Office on Latin America joins Greg Wilpert on theAnalysis.news
Leftist presidential candidate Gustavo Petro and his running mate Francia Márquez were expected to make history on May 29th by becoming shoo-ins for the run-off election. However, despite the strong first-round showing they are now expected to lose the June 19th run-off against a populist right-wing candidate. What happened? Colombia expert Gimena Sánchez of the Washington Office on Latin America joins Greg Wilpert on theAnalysis.news
UC Santa Barbara Sociology professor William I. Robinson and the Nicaragua-based writer John Perry debate whether Nicaragua under President Ortega con be considered a leftist government, whether US intervention is a factor in that country, and whether the recent presidential election was legitimate.
Gabriel Boric was elected president of Chile on December 20th – probably the most leftist president Chile has elected since Salvador Allende in 1970. Boric promised that while Chile was neoliberalism’s birthplace under Dictator Pinochet, it will now be neoliberalism’s burial place as well. Patricio Zamorano, a Chilean political analyst and director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA.org) talks about what we can expect from a Boric presidency.
The election of the leftist Xiomara Castro as Honduras’s first female president means a significant rupture with the country’s recent right-wing – even fascist – past, says Center for the Americas director Laura Carlsen. However, whether Castro will be allowed to actually govern is another question, given that the state is deeply embedded in corruption and drug trafficking.
Geo Maher, the author of the just-released book, A World Without Police, talks about why the police are actually designed not to do what we think they are supposed to do, to “serve and protect” the general public, but actually serve and protect property owners and more generally those who benefit from racism and inequality. He goes on to outline what a world without police could look like.
With the left’s recent electoral successes in Peru and Bolivia, and previously in Mexico and Argentina, does this mean that there is a second so-called “Pink Tide” in Latin America? If so, how do we make sense of the first Pink Tide, its successes and failures, and what might Latin America’s left have learned from the first tide, as it gets ready to take power in several countries? René Rojas, professor at SUNY Binghamton, and Hilary Goodfriend, of Jacobin Magazine Latin America, argue that while the left needs a clearer economic plan, it is at an advantage at the moment because of the right’s disarray across the region.
As Bolivia’s new government under Luis Arce prepares to prosecute the people behind the 2019 coup against Evo Morales, prominent US institutions such as Human Rights Watch, Washington Post, and the State Department urge Arce not to move against them. Ollie Vargas, a journalist and analyst based in Bolivia, says the prosecution is essential at a time when coups are back in vogue in Latin America.
With the left’s recent electoral successes in Peru and Bolivia, and previously in Mexico and Argentina, does this mean that there is a second so-called “Pink Tide” in Latin America? If so, how do we make sense of the first Pink Tide, its successes and failures, and what might Latin America’s left have learned from the first tide, as it gets ready to take power in several countries? René Rojas, professor at SUNY Binghamton, and Hilary Goodfriend, of Jacobin Magazine Latin America, argue that while the left needs a clearer economic plan, it is at an advantage at the moment because of the right’s disarray across the region.
For the first time in Peru’s history has a leftist and working-class candidate won the presidency. While Pedro Castillo’s election has generated big expectations, his ability to govern faces many challenges. Peruvian journalist and analyst Francesca Emanuele analyzes the election result.
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