US Responds to Another Leftist Victory in Latin America
Washington reacted cautiously Monday to the reported victory in Bolivia’s presidential election of a left-winger who has declared himself America’s “nightmare,” vows to nationalize the country’s natural gas industry, and is a fan of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
The success of Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) leader, Aymara Indian activist Evo Morales, was hailed in left-wing media outlets as a blow to the United States and “neoliberal” economic policies.
Morales reportedly received some 51 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election, easily defeating pro-U.S. candidate Jorge Quiroga.
More: cnsnews.com
Related Travel Information
Latin America's leftist leaders
With his inauguration last month, Bolivian President Evo Morales became the latest member of Latin America's contingent of leftist heads of government.
The leftist movement stills pays homage to the grand old man of Latin American socialism, the fading and increasingly feeble Fidel Castro of Cuba, but its real leader is the bombastic and outrageous Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
He has become a regional power, awash in oil and anti-Washington rhetoric — and he sees Morales as a protégé.
Also arrayed on the left are Argentina's Nelson Kirchner, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Uruquay's Tabaré Vázquez.
In Chile, Michelle
A Look at South America's Leftist Leaders
A victory by Bolivian Socialist Evo Morales would add to a growing leftward shift in South America. Other nations with left-leaning governments:
ARGENTINA: Center-left President Nestor Kirchner took office in 2003 in the first election after the country's 2001-02 economic meltdown. Kirchner recently announced that Argentina would make early repayment of its $9.8 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund to avoid the IMF's free-market policy demands. Kirchner has strengthened ties with Venezuela's leftist leader, Hugo Chavez.
BRAZIL: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rose from rural poverty to become Brazil's first elected leftist
Latin America News in Brief
Supporters of Mexicos leftist presidential candidate brought Mexico Citys rush-hour traffic to a crawl Monday, causing the stock market to drop and forcing office workers dressed in business suits and high heels to hike for miles to work.
The sprawling tent cities in the financial heart of the Mexican capital were another sign that Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his supporters wont accept anything less than victory in their challenge to the results of the July 2 election. Felipe Calderón was declared the winner.
Hundreds of office workers passed protesters blaring salsa music and playing soccer in streets
South America Continues To Drift To The Left
The election of Evo Morales, of the Movement Towards Socialism, as President of Bolivia, has consolidated the leftist trend in South America. It appears that the rightist-occurring trend started by Regan and Thatcher is on its last stages. President Bush seems to be the last champion of the right, because change is occurring all around him.
Brazil, the most powerful country in South America, has a leftist government. Venezuela, the largest producer of oil in South America, elected Hugo Chavez, a fiery leftist as its President. Argentina, another important country in South America, also
Latin America in brief
A leftist former guerrilla Thursday was declared the winner of the mayor's race in San Salvador, after a disputed, razor-close finish that exposed the continuing divisions in the country between right and left.
Violeta Menjívar of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, or FMLN, won the race by a scant 44 votes, after a tense night of protests and street battles in San Salvador, three days after the election.
Supporters of Menjívar had marched Wednesday night to the hotel where El Salvador's electoral tribunal was counting the final batch of disputed votes. The president of the electoral tribunal is
