World


Under Trump, Red Wave Sweeps Latin America


Voters, weary of crime and stagnant economies, are inspired by “man up North.” BY JOHN GIZZI


dramatic” and “symbolic” — that was how the local media described the transfer of power in Chile on March 11. Outgoing President Gabriel Boric, a beard-


ed, atheistic, self-styled socialist, walked down the steps of the National Congress building with an open shirt collar and no tie, carrying the 2-year-old daughter from one of his two domestic partnerships.


Meanwhile, inside the chamber, having just donned the multicolored presidential sash, was Jose Antonio Kast — a stalwart conservative, daily communi- cant in the Roman Catholic Church, and father of nine, who never fails to wear a tie (and, in fact, whose fi rst offi cial order was to require all


ni-


male government employees to come to work wearing one). Kast beat self-styled communist Jeannette Jara, an


ally of Boric, with the highest number of votes cast for a presidential candidate since Chile returned to democracy in 1990. It was the latest seismic political change that has transformed Latin America since Donald Trump was fi rst elected to the White House in 2016. Three years later, Nayib Bukele became president of


El Salvador on a vow to take a mano dura (heavy hand) against raging crime throughout his country. Since then, candidates on the political right on eco-


nomic and social issues have triumphed throughout the hemisphere: Nasry Asfura of Honduras, a law-and-order hardliner; Rodrigo Paz of Bolivia, advocate of a business agenda he dubbed “Capitalism for All” after two socialist presidencies;


NAYIB BUKELE, El Salvador High Priest of Law and Order


A


t 44, and now in his second term as president, the former San Salvador


mayor and businessman shows no sign of slowing down. Having built a prison for 40,000


inmates, Nayib Bukele recently secured a constitutional amendment permitting life sentences for more crimes. He is also pushing to end presidential term limits, and signals he will run for of ice indefinitely — so long as voters in the country of 11 million keep reelecting him. To charges that he is an autocrat, Bukele does not argue, and dubs himself “the world’s coolest dictator.”


54 NEWSMAX | MAY 2026


NASRY ASFURA, Honduras The Traditionalist


I


n contrast to El Salvador’s Bukele or Argentina’s Milei, Nasry Asfura is a much


more traditional politician. For more than 25 years, he has been either a member of the Honduran Congress or mayor of the capital city of Tegucigalpa. Elected president at 67, his agenda


is “transforming government by reducing the expenses of the federal state, and promoting policies to reduce taxes enough to really help people make private investments — the most important investments of all, because they will generate more revenue.”


RODRIGO PAZ, Bolivia Every Man a Capitalist


T


he son of a former president, Rodrigo Paz was elected president


last year by carrying six of Bolivia’s nine provinces. After 20 years of presidents from


the Movement for Socialism (MAS), Paz, 58, won on the slogan of “Capitalism for All” and an agenda that includes elimination of fuel subsidies, devaluation of the Bolivian currency, and scaling back public investment.


BUKEKE/ SAUL LOEB /AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES /ASFURAN/JOHAN ORDONEZ / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES / PAZ/SERGIO LIMA / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES


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