On June 6, a group of protestors gathered around the Obelisco monument in central Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, to show their opposition to President Alberto Fernández’s extension of mandatory social isolation until the end of that month. Looking similar in phenotype and behavior to the regular crowds of Bolsonaro-supporting protestors that would take the streets every Sunday for the same cause, the mob decried the Argentinian press and screamed that “the pandemic doesn’t exist.” Amid the crowd, one demonstrator stood out, wearing a shirt bearing the face of Argentina’s former military dictator Jorge Rafael Videla.
“We need our general,” said the elderly man, clutching an umbrella. Mr. Videla, who died alone, sitting on the toilet in the Marcos Paz prison in 2013, was one of the bloodiest leaders in Latin America, responsible for leading Argentina’s cruel military regime of 1976 to 1981, which resulted in a death toll of between 20,000 and 30,000 people. Reverence for such authoritarian and violent past leaders is something we have seen regularly in Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil.
Since the former Brazilian captain emerged as a serious political candidate in 2018, the world has been shocked by his anti-democratic politics, authoritarian bluster, and conspiratorial demagoguery. The pandemic brought to light similar denialist movements in neighboring countries, resembling the one headed by Mr. Bolsonaro. But are they powerful enough to produce a leader like him, or are they no more than paranoid reactions to the pandemic?
As explained in 2019, countries such as Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay — that...
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