The New York Times article titled, “As Latin America Shifts Left, Leaders Face a Short Honeymoon,” discusses the recent elections in Latin America and what they represent for the region long term given the political nature of the candidates being elected to office. The article starts off by mentioning that, “All six of the region’s largest economies could soon be run by presidents elected on leftist platforms. Their challenge? Inflation, war in Europe and growing poverty at home.” It all started with the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico back in 2018 and followed with election in Brazil held a few months ago in which Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was certified by the courts after him and Jair Bolsonaro couldn’t get majority of the popular votes and it went to runoff. In Chile, a former student activist won the presidency and in Peru and Columbia candidates who come from humble beginnings and have been longtime rebels came to power and they’re both a part of the first leftist governments. This “sudden” shift of politics in Latin America comes at no surprise as they have been a few decades in the making. We learned about how neoliberalism and the politics of anti-politics or authoritarian bureaucracies where the military was in control of everything wasn’t actually working. The issue with neoliberalism is that you’re neglecting the working class and that’s suicidal because without them, labor is nonexistent and therefore there is no economy to speak of in the first place. Social programs and price control are pivotal to stabilize the economy and give life to the less fortunate and often oppressed out of mere greed. You can’t have a thriving economy when your workforce is underpaid, therefore not having enough money to spend because that will halt the circulation of capital. Who are all those services and products being offered to, it is to consumers and those consumers happen to be the producers. They make them and then buy them because trickle-down economics might as well be a myth because the rich like to build wealth and keep it. They always want more and more without a thought to allocate even a small percentage to others. Although the recent shift seems promising, the reality of it says otherwise especially with the current state of the world’s economy. The war in Europe has skyrocketed the cost of everyday goods and made it impossible for the masses to make ends meet. It is unfortunate that these newly elected officials are handed the countries under these circumstances where the whole entire world is in crisis and it’s beyond their control, but it will certainly be the most important test to their policies. It is slightly similar to when FDR became president at the eve of the Great Depression and the rest was history, so we will see how things play out for these Latin American leaders. Will history repeat itself or will reality make its mark? 

Works Cited:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/31/world/americas/latin-america-leftist-leaders.html
• https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-06-27/latin-america-looks-to-a-new-left.html