Last weekend, rightwing-extremist candidate Abelardo de la Espriella edged out left-wing opponent Ivan Cepeda to win Colombia's presidential election in a campaign in which the former focused heavily on the nation's security crisis.
In Chile, another extreme-right candidate, Jose Antonio Kast, took the reins from a leftist government in March elections. Kast, who is pursuing cuts to education and welfare while handing out tax cuts to businesses, openly talks about Chile's military dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) as something positive.
And right-wing populist Javier Milei, a great admirer of US President Donald Trump, has run Argentina since 2023. He, too, says he is betting on austerity to save his financially destitute nation.
Paramilitary past hangs over Colombia's runoff electionTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Latin America's biggest country will go to the polls this fall
