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"I'm back!" Former Brazilian President Lula recently announced that he will run in the 2022 presidential election, a decision that fulfilled a wish that he had failed to fulfill in his first two terms. Lula was once hailed as the "voice of the poor," and during his 2003-2010 presidency, he adopted moderate and pragmatic policies that lifted millions of Brazilians out of poverty, making him one of Latin America's most popular left-wing leaders. Even when he left office, his public approval rating was still as high as 80%, a figure that Biden envied.
However, Lula was later embroiled in a corruption scandal and sentenced to prison until the first half of the year, when the Supreme Court abruptly dropped his guilt, ushering in the second spring of his political career. Meanwhile, Chile's left-wing candidate Boric was unexpectedly elected president in the December 19 election, defeating right-wing candidate Custer, reflecting the political trend of "going left" in Latin America in recent years.
This change in Latin American politics is widely known as the "pink wave," meaning that although the ruling party is left-wing, its policies are not entirely in line with traditional socialism, but have a distinctly conservative tendency. The formation of this phenomenon has a profound historical background.
The communist movement in Latin America was influenced by the October Revolution in Russia. Prior to this, Latin America was exploited by European and American colonialists and domestic oligarchs, and its people were impoverished and destitute. However, when they heard that Lenin, who was far away in Eurasia, had successfully put Marxism into practice and won, many people with lofty ideals established communist parties in Latin American countries. From the 30s to the 50s of the last century, the Communist Party in Latin America gradually grew, but after the outbreak of the Cold War, the United States, as the hegemon in the region, was strongly anti-communist, and the members of the Communist Party suffered serious persecution, and the number of Party members decreased sharply.
The victory of the socialist revolution in Cuba gave hope to Latin America, and countries formed guerrilla armies to resist the dictatorship. Chile has been the most outstanding in this regard. In 1970, the Communist Party of Chile joined forces with other left-wing parties to support the victory of Socialist Party leader Allende in the presidential election, and the Communist Party of Chile finally ended its long underground struggle and became the ruling party.
However, after Allende came to power, he tried to implement socialist policies such as land reform, infrastructure development, public education development, and free food for the poor. These policies led to a 28% spike in real purchasing power in one year. However, these reforms also provoked discontent in the United States, and Nixon ordered the collapse of Allende's government. The CIA orchestrated "color revolutions" that led to constant unrest in the country. In the end, the United States sold copper from strategic reserves, hitting copper prices to historic lows, causing Chile to lose its source of foreign exchange and causing public discontent to boil. In 1973, Pinochet led a coup d'état, Allende heroically resisted, but was ultimately defeated. After Pinochet came to power, Chile implemented neoliberal reforms, and although economic indicators improved, the standard of living of ordinary people did not improve significantly.
Allende's plight reflects the fate of leftist governments across Latin America, including Che Guevara and Árbenz, among others, which have failed to end well. Dictatorships have generally emerged in Latin American countries, suppressing left-wing forces, and communism has once again fallen into a trough.
The reasons for Latin America's political situation continue to swing left and right are complex and diverse. During the Cold War, American influence forced many governments to lean toward the United States, and communism was suppressed. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the faith of Latin American communists was shaken, and some people broke away from the party and set up a new hill and established a social democratic party. Traditional left and right parties fail to effectively address social issues when they govern, causing people to lose confidence in them. The New Left regime has come up with a new model of development and has garnered more support.
However, corruption in left-wing governments has also surfaced, with a widening gap between rich and poor, sluggish economic growth, and difficulty in fulfilling welfare promises, causing discontent among the population. In addition, the United States has taken a series of interventionist measures
Shi tried to manipulate the internal affairs of Latin American countries, influencing the election results through international sanctions and color revolutions to ensure that leaders who obeyed the United States came to power.
In general, the left-right swing of the regime in Latin American countries is a normal phenomenon. Across the continent, the confrontation between left and right forces has been in dynamic equilibrium. For ordinary people, they are most concerned about the state of the economy, as long as they can have food and clothing, they will not easily overthrow the government. However, left-wing governments that genuinely pursue economic development are often undermined by American conspiracies, so solving this problem is not easy.
Today, the gap between rich and poor in Latin America is huge, and the poor have nowhere to go but fall victim to crime. In fact, 11 of the 18 countries with the highest crime rates in the world listed by WHO are located in Latin America, with Honduras topping the list. This reminds me of the bizarre magical appearances in Márquez's novels, which find a counterpart in reality. Or rather, the reality of Latin America itself is so incredible and full of incredible elements.
Being too far from God and too close to the United States is the greatest misfortune of the Latin American people. Historically, the United States has been influencing Latin America's political and economic fortunes, and this neocolonialism is far less decent and elegant than the old colonialism, and Latin Americans still live in poverty and instability, without knowing who is really behind it.
The collapse of the Soviet Union dealt a severe blow to Latin American communist parties, whose faith faltered and left the party to form more moderate social-democratic parties. At the same time, traditional left and right parties failed to effectively address the country's fundamental problems when they came to power, so the new left government proposed a new development model and garnered more support.
Despite more than a decade of slumps, left-wing movements in Latin America are now taking on new life. However, corruption during the leftist government's time in power and lackluster economic growth led to popular discontent. As a result, the political landscape in Latin American countries remains complex and volatile, and solving economic problems is a fundamental challenge for all governments.
Against this challenging backdrop, the region's political and economic outlook remains uncertain. Only through more pragmatic and equitable policies, and freedom from the shackles of external interference, will it be possible to create a better future for the Latin American people. The story of the Latin American continent is full of drama and complexity, just like Márquez's magical realism, full of incredible wonders and mysteries.
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