In the background, flags of the USA, Brazil and Argentina. On the left of the image, former US President Donald Trump; on the right, the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro; in the center, the Argentine Javier Milei stands out, who this Sunday (14) has a good chance of being elected deputy for the city of Buenos Aires.
The poster was sold by street vendors in Parque Lezama, where the 51-year-old economist’s campaign ended the campaign. Milei arrived cheered by a mostly male and young audience. Wearing a denim jacket, he blended in with his supporters, who waved Argentine and Gadsden flags with a snake, today a symbol of ultra-conservatism in the US.
Although it is still a phenomenon limited to the capital, the rise of the so-called “libertarians” has drawn attention by stealing votes from the center-right and boosting criticism of the Peronism that commands the country.
Under the inspiration of Trump and Bolsonaro, other names are projected onto the electoral scene in Latin America. In Chile, Pinochetista José Antonio Kast, 55, leads the polls with an anti-globalist, anti-immigration and security-focused agenda — the main concern of Chileans, according to the Pulso Cidadão institute.
Kast’s rise seems surprising in a country where large protests started in 2019 called for a change in the neoliberal political-economic model and a referendum defined the reformulation of the Constitution.
“What we are seeing is the reaction of Chileans who are resisting profound change in Chile,” says political analyst Fernando GarcÃa Naddaf. “There had been a malaise in the country for over a decade, nothing seemed to change, but now we are seeing that a tectonic shift is taking place. As every shift breeds fear and unrest, Kast responds to this sector of society.”
Kast was a candidate in 2017 and did not reach the second round, obtaining 7.9% of the votes. At the time, he was known for evoking the former Chilean dictator when he stated that, if he were alive, Pinochet would vote for him.
Catholic, takes a stand against abortion and sexual diversity. In recent months, it has achieved the leadership of polls for the presidential election that takes place on the 21st, with more than 25% of voting intentions. According to recent projections, he should compete in the second round with leftist Gabriel Boric.
In speeches and debates, Kast highlights support for a hard-line security policy against Mapuche indigenous groups, who defend the sovereignty of Chile’s native peoples and sometimes provoke violent protests. Like Trump, the candidate wants to build a wall, this time to try to stop the entry of Venezuelan and Haitian immigrants from the north of the country, on the border with Bolivia.
“In a world where work is scarce, impacted by the pandemic, this discourse attracts a more conservative middle class, which is afraid of losing money”, says analyst Cristóbal Bellolio.
In Uruguay, retired general Guido Manini RÃos, 63, now a senator, represents one of the important political supporters of Luis Lacalle Pou’s government. From a family with a tradition in politics, with grandparents and uncles who occupied positions in Colorado Party governments, RÃos is the founder of Cabildo Abierto, a legend that claims the legacy of the hero of Independence, José Artigas.
After a military career, serving in missions in Iran, Iraq and Mozambique, he was chosen by former president José “Pepe” Mujica in 2015 to command the Army. Since then, he began to build his most radical profile on the right, defending amnesty for the military and discouraging searches for the disappeared and the trials of those responsible for the repression of the Uruguayan dictatorship (1973-1985).
The curious relationship between RÃos and the Tupamaros left, a group of which Mujica was a part, is cloudy, but it goes through the history of armed struggle, which began even before the military regime.
In a period of extreme violence in the early 1970s, Tupamaros and members of groups like the Lieutenants de Artigas, of which the now senator was a member, cultivated a deep nationalist feeling.
The agendas, however, were quite different: the Tupamaros wanted a socialist revolution, while the military came to power through a coup.
A Catholic, RÃos is against advances in civil rights policies promoted by the Frente Amplio governments (2005-2020), such as the abortion law, the regulation of marijuana and same-sex marriage.
In 2019, he was a presidential candidate and obtained 11.04% of the votes in the first round. In the second, he supported the current leader of Uruguay, Lacalle Pou, from the centre-right, against wide forward Daniel MartÃnez.
More recently, this phenomenon has also come to light in Peru, where evangelical businessman Rafael López Aliaga, 60, almost won the necessary votes to go to the second round.
A celibate since the age of 19, Aliaga made the fight against the so-called “gender ideology” and corruption his main banner, defending the expulsion of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht from the country. It finished in third place, with 11% of the votes, behind the current president, the leftist Pedro Castillo, and Keiko Fujimori.
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