An extraordinary political revolution in favour of the populist far right is sweeping Latin America: Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Peru and now Colombia have all seen the left defeated.
The far right has won elections along the entire Pacific coast, from the southernmost tip of Chile in Tierra del Fuego, all the way north to the Panama isthmus, bringing to a close more than two decades of a left-wing ascendancy, the so-called Pink Tide.
In Argentina, Javier Milei was the first of a new wave of ultra-right candidates who won in late 2023, running as a libertarian who vowed to dismantle the state and become a firm ally of the US and Israel. Milei came to power wielding a chainsaw and has wrecked the economy, plunging millions into poverty while dismantling state institutions.
This is not happening in a vacuum - Milei has been backed by US President Donald Trump who has openly supported this far-right political wave, and now has a string of allies across the continent.
Trump stated in his National Security Strategy 2025 that Latin America is now firmly within the US sphere of influence, under a new Monroe Doctrine in which direct intervention will be used to enforce US hegemony on the continent.
