Latin America in the 21st century: from the shift to the left to the ideological fragmentation

Abstract

The emerging governments of Latin America in the first decade of the 21st century have been emblematic manifestations of the so-called “turn to the left”, with Hugo Chávez Frías in Venezuela, among others, Lula Da Silva in Brazil in 2003 and Dilma Rousseff from 2011, Néstor Kirchner in Argentina in 2003 and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner from 2007, Evo Morales in Bolivia in 2005, Rafael Correa in Ecuador in 2007, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay in 2008, Tabaré Vázquez in 2005, José Mojica in 2009 and again Tabaré Vázquez from 2014 in Uruguay, giving rise to different leftist alternatives: populist, neo-populist and social democratic. A new wave of uncertainty is shaking Latin America. The “Bolivarian breeze”, the “right-wing coup” and “a destabilizing process” invite us to analyze what is happening, beyond the conspiracy theories and the desires of some leaders. What happened in the region during the last five years? Was there a right turn? Is a new left-turn possible? What is the current picture of the region? The purpose of this paper is to analyze the ideological panorama of the region, starting from the premise of the existence of at least two predominant characteristics in the region: first, the ideological fragmentation, second, its political polarization.