When Colombian voters handed victory to right-wing extremist Abelardo de la Espriella on Sunday, they extended a political losing streak for Latin America’s left that now stretches across three of the region’s largest economies. The win in Colombia follows far-right takeovers in Chile and Argentina, where governments have already begun implementing the kinds of policies voters in Bogotá and Medellín can now expect to see. Chile’s Jose Antonio Kast took office in March.
He has been open about his admiration for the 1973-1990 military dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet, framing that period as positive. His policy agenda pursues cuts to education and welfare while handing tax cuts to businesses.
For Chileans, that means a government actively dismantling the social safety net their country built over decades. The education system, long a point of national pride, faces reductions. Welfare programs that kept vulnerable families afloat are being trimmed.
Meanwhile, corporate tax rates are falling. Argentina has been governed since 2023 by Javier Milei, a right-wing populist and vocal admirer of US President Donald Trump.
Milei has bet heavily on austerity to rescue Argentina’s financially destitute economy. The results so far have been brutal. Austerity means public spending cuts, reduced subsidies, and layoffs in the public sector.
For ordinary Argentines, it has meant soaring prices and shrinking incomes. Milei’s gamble is that short-term pain will produce long-term stability. Whether voters will tolerate the pain long enough to see the stability is an open question.
The pattern across these three countries is not coincidental. Voters are rejecting leftist incumbents and their platforms of social welfare and redistribution.
They are choosing candidates who promise order, security, and fiscal discipline. Even when those candidates carry baggage from authoritarian pasts. De la Espriella’s campaign in Colombia focused on the nation’s security crisis.
He promised voters he would hit drug gangs and guerrilla groups hard. That message cut through.
It worked in Chile. It worked in Argentina. Now it has worked in Colombia.
What this signals is a regional trend, not an isolated event. The political calculus in Latin America is shifting decisively. Left-wing governments that rode into power on waves of commodity booms and social discontent are finding themselves turned out by electorates tired of crime and economic instability.
The appeal of tough-on-crime messaging and economic shock therapy appears to be cutting through traditional left-wing platforms. The broader stakes are clear.
These right-wing governments are reshaping the geopolitical chessboard south of the United States. Trade relationships, diplomatic alliances, and regional cooperation mechanisms will all shift as right-wing leaders replace leftist ones. Countries that once coordinated on issues like climate change and migration may now diverge.
Security cooperation, especially on drug trafficking and guerrilla groups, could intensify under leaders who campaigned on being tough on crime. What to watch next is how these right-wing governments handle their promises.
Austerity in Argentina is already testing public patience. Welfare cuts in Chile will face resistance from unions and civil society. Colombia’s new president must deliver on his security promises without triggering a human rights crisis.
Each country will be a test case. If Milei’s austerity works, other leaders may follow. If Kast’s cuts provoke unrest, the rightward shift could stall.
De la Espriella’s victory in Colombia is the latest data point in a pattern. It is not the last one.
