Hello, and welcome to the Latin America Weekly newsletter! In this issue: Javier Milei is about to take office, and we discuss the struggles of getting re-elected. The breakdown of Mercosur-EU negotiations. Peru’s ban on underage marriage. And Venezuela after the referendum.
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Latin America’s anti-incumbency wave, explained
The inauguration ceremony of Argentina’s Javier Milei next Sunday will represent more than just the country’s first far-right swing since the end of its military regime in 1983. It will also swear in yet another president who ran on an opposition platform, underscoring an anti-incumbency trend that has been shaping Latin American politics in recent years.
Trends. Voters have been calling for change with little regard for which party is in power since before the pandemic, although Covid further exacerbated the trend.
Love is gone. The clearest example has been Brazil, which had seen four consecutive triumphs of the Workers’ Party — until recession and corruption scandals helped elect an outsider like far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. Four years later, however, Brazilians...