Latin America's Rightward Turn

Five years ago, Latin America seemed to be riding a new "pink tide." Leftist presidents had won in Chile, Peru, Honduras, and Colombia, and Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was on his way back to power. Today, the region's political map looks very different.

The shift has been sweeping. In Argentina, libertarian Javier Milei has reshaped the country's economy and strengthened his position in Congress. In late 2025, Bolivians ended two decades of rule by the leftist MAS party by electing center-right Rodrigo Paz. Chile chose hard-right José Antonio Kast, and Honduras elected conservative Nasry Asfura. Ecuador's Daniel Noboa and El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, both popular for their hardline approach to crime, remain dominant.

2026 accelerated the trend. In Colombia, which had elected its first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, in 2022, far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella won the June runoff. He beat Petro's ally Iván Cepeda 49.66% to 48.70%, the narrowest runoff margin in the country's history. De la Espriella, a political newcomer, had been endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump. In Peru, conservative Keiko Fujimori won the presidency on her fourth attempt, after a weeks-long count left her roughly 50,000 votes ahead of leftist Roberto Sánchez. She campaigned on promises of an "iron fist" against surging crime.

The biggest test is now underway in Brazil, Latin America's largest country. In the first round on October 4, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, finished ahead of Lula, 47.0% to 45.2%. That surprised pollsters, whose final surveys had shown Lula ahead or tied. The two will meet in a runoff on October 25. A Bolsonaro win would put nearly every major South American economy under right-leaning leadership.

Several forces are driving the shift. Crime tops the list. Voters across the region have been drawn to candidates promising tough security policies, inspired in part by Bukele's crackdown on gangs in El Salvador. Economic frustration matters too, as inflation, slow growth, and debt have hurt governing parties. Corruption scandals and political chaos have also played a role, most dramatically in Peru, which has cycled through nine presidents in ten years. And Washington has been unusually involved, with the Trump administration openly backing conservative candidates.

Some analysts caution against reading too much into the trend. CNN recently framed the question as whether Latin America is truly moving right or simply voting governments out. Many of these races were won by razor-thin margins, suggesting deeply divided electorates rather than a broad ideological conversion. The left still governs Mexico, the region's second-largest economy, under Claudia Sheinbaum, and Uruguay. And in a region where voters have punished incumbents of every stripe for a decade, today's conservative winners may face the same backlash if they fail to deliver on crime and the economy.

For now, though, the momentum is clearly with the right, and Brazil's runoff in three weeks will show how far it extends.