World
fighting for the democracies in Latin America, and is in favor of strengthening democracy in our whole region.”
‘COMMIES, CRIME, AND CARTELS’ Latin American countries have been ruled by socialists and other left-of-center governments for two generations. The political heirs of Juan and Eva Peron, both still revered
by many in Argentina, were frequently returned to power. Nestor Kirchner, a true-blue Peronist, served as presi-
dent from 2003-2007, and his wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, held the job from 2007-2015. During their joint tenure, the national debt skyrocketed
to 11 figures, and the country fell into default in 2014. Evo Morales, leader of the Movement for Socialism
(MAS) party in Bolivia and its first president to come from the indigenous population, oversaw what he called “com- munitarian socialism,” and famously declared that “the worst enemy of humanity is capitalism.” He also oversaw a back-
sliding of democracy, amend- ing the constitution to seek a third and fourth term — the latter abruptly ending in 2019 amid protests he had rigged the election. Since Chile returned to democratic elections in 1990 after a decade under military control, socialists and social democrats have often won presidential elections. What resulted, noted
Mary Anastasia O’Grady of The Wall Street Journal, was “the stagnation of economic growth and wages over a decade, crony capitalism, and impunity for political elites.” The economic liberalism that had been sculpted by con-
servative General Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and ’80s, and maintained by the first two elected presidents, was scrapped by Socialist President Michelle Bachelet and her successor, Boric. Crime rose throughout Latin America during the same
period, including the spread of narcotics and drug cartels. Venezuela’s Maduro was accused by the Trump admin-
istration of being the leader of the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), which provided ways to transport cocaine from Colombia (the world’s largest producer of cocaine). He and his wife were captured in Caracas by the U.S.
military in January and flown to New York, where they are awaiting trial on federal drug trafficking charges. Critics say Morales, who began his career as the head
of a coca growers’ union, either closed his eyes or encour- aged the expansion of the cocaine trade that led to wide- spread drug trafficking.
56 NEWSMAX | MAY 2026 “Commies, crime, and cartels” is how one wag charac-
terized the major factors that finally led Latin America to swing from left to right in recent years. The most potent fuel in this change is clearly the issue of crime. “I don’t remember there being a moment before where so
many Latin American countries’ politics seem to be hinging on [voter concerns about crime],” Will Freeman, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the Financial Times. “The huge increase in the cocaine trade, the boom in
illegal gold mining and human smuggling has seeded a lot of new gangs and criminal outfits.” Enter Bukele, who oversaw a nationwide crackdown of
violent crime that had made El Salvador one of the most murderous countries in the hemisphere. In the last four years, 80,000 gang members were arrest-
ed. Many are held in the gargantuan new prison known as CECOT (Centre for the Confinement of Terrorists), which has the capacity to hold 40,000 inmates. Civil libertarians brand
him a dictator. Nelson Rauda Zablah, investigative journalist for the Salvadoran online news outlet El Faro, speaks of “the terrifying arbi- trariness of his regime, his self-interested way of ruling, his cruelty.” But Zablah concedes
that, after six years in power, Bukele is “wildly popular,” with a national approval rat- ing of over 80%. No wonder, as the homicide rate is down
98% compared to 10 years ago. Chileans have taken notice. An Ipsos poll shows 62%
believe crime and violence were the most important issues in the recent election. Kast and his Republican (conservative) Party made law
and order their central issue. During his campaign, Kast stumped on a platform, the Financial Times noted, “to toughen prison conditions for gang members, ‘drastically’ increase jail terms, halt a big wave of immigration from Venezuela that he blames for eroding law and order, and expel illegal immigrants.” The same trend continues elsewhere on the continent. In Costa Rica, newly elected President Laura Fernandez
has promised to be tougher on crime than her predecessor and close ally, former President Rodrigo Chaves — who recently broke ground for a Costan Rican counterpart to Bukele’s CECOT (albeit the much smaller country’s prison will hold only 5,100 inmates at most). And in Peru, right-of-center hopeful Rafael Lopez
Aliaga (former Lima mayor) promises life sentences to fight what he calls “urban terrorism.”
ROBERTO SCHMIDT/GETTY IMAGES
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
