This article by Eduardo Nava Hernández originally appeared in the November 3, 2025 edition of Rebelión.
Two recent electoral experiences in Latin America have proven instructive and very likely foreshadow a new stage in the forms of government and in the social, political—and geopolitical—struggles of the region. In Bolivia, after 20 years in power and having given the country a new constitution in 2009 that prioritized the rights and identity of indigenous peoples, the Movement for Socialism (MAS) had to cede the presidency to the conservative Rodrigo Paz Pereira of the Christian Democratic Party. In Argentina, the ultraliberal party Liberty Advances (LLA), which already holds the presidency through Javier Milei, achieved a resounding victory in the legislative elections, securing a large majority in Congress. These events have had and will continue to have repercussions in the international context, including in Mexico.
“Capitalism for all” is the slogan Paz brandished to combat the indigenous-popular force built in the early years of the century by the coca growers’ leader Evo Morales Ayma. Paz not only won the first and second rounds of the presidential election; together with the Libre (Liberty and Democracy) alliance of the far-right Jorge Tuto Quiroga, which became the second largest electoral force, and Morales’ call to boycott the election—and therefore the official candidate Eduardo del Castillo—he reduced the MAS to a merely symbolic representation, with only two deputies in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly and none in the Senate.
Evo Morales, Mexico City, 2024 Photo: Jay Watts
The MAS’s electoral crisis is the result of several factors that have been brewing and developing since 2019, when the OAS, in its electoral observation report, pointed to a series of irregularities in the first round of the presidential election that had given the victory to Evo Morales, despite a ruling that declared him ineligible for another reelection. Popular protests and international pressure forced the coca growers’ leader to renounce his reelection bid, paving the way for a police and military coup that led to his exile in Mexico and Argentina, along with Vice President Álvaro García Linera. Jeanine Áñez was declared President by a slim minority in Congress, leading a brief administration that could not withstand the resistance of Indigenous peoples and other popular sectors. The call for new elections culminated in another MAS victory, with Luis Arce Catacora, Morales’s former Minister of Economy and Public Finance, as its candidate.
However, during Arce’s administration, differences arose over control of the party-movement and the presidential candidacy in 2025, irreparably dividing it. Evo Morales eventually resigned from the MAS and allied himself with the Front for Victory, later announcing the formation of his new party, which he named EVO Pueblo. Although the economy experienced astonishing growth of over 5% annually on average during Morales’s presidency, attributed to Luis Arce’s management, during Arce’s presidency, particularly from 2023 onward, the decline in exports and the shortage of foreign currency led to crisis and inflation.
The collapse of the regime built over two decades by a powerful Indigenous, peasant, and proletarian movement around the MAS party has been resounding, leading to the return of the right wing to power through the PDC and Libre, the second largest political force. What not only appeared to be, but actually was, a solid structure based on the alliance of historically marginalized and exploited social sectors and groups, a genuine recognition of Indigenous peoples in their contemporary forms, and a new constitution that acknowledged the plurinational and Indigenous foundation of the nation, is now being questioned, facing the possibility of its reversal. The new leader’s slogan of “capitalism for all” signals the reinstatement of neoliberal policies such as denationalization, tax and tariff reductions, and the opening up of the economy and incentives for private investment, especially foreign investment. Donald Trump hailed Rodrigo Paz’s victory and celebrated it as the end of “20 years of mismanagement” in Bolivia.
It is true that the Indigenous movement and other social sectors are not finished, even though they have been excluded from state power due to their own internal divisions and the inconsistencies of their political representatives. But now they will operate in a highly unfavorable environment, both domestically and internationally, as US imperialism intensifies its pressure on Cuba, Venezuela, and the leftist government of Gustavo Petro in Colombia. Popular struggle in Bolivia will return to the streets and highways of the country, with the character of resistance, as before 2006, and without a unifying core like the one represented by the Movement for Socialism.
In Argentina, leftist forces are faring no better. The legislative victory of LLA, with over 40% of the vote—contrary to predictions that gave them 30%—must be explained by the depth of the economic and social crisis and the absence of a clear electoral alternative to Javier Milei’s far-right party, a consequence of Peronism’s erosion due to corruption and scandals in power. Milei’s party, recently founded as part of the coalition that brought him to power in 2023, increased its representation from 37 to 93 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and from 6 to 19 in the Senate. It won in 16 of the 24 electoral districts, including the province of Buenos Aires, a former Peronist stronghold. While it will not have an absolute majority in the legislature, its relative majority of over a third will allow it to more easily forge alliances and block initiatives from the Peronist opposition.
The spectacular advance of the neoliberal option was due, first and foremost, to the lifeline that President Donald J. Trump launched on the eve of the election: a $20 billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury, plus another $20 billion in private loans, to stabilize the peso and curb inflation, which had exceeded 30% so far this year. This decision was driven more by ideological affinity between the White House and the Casa Rosada than by any certainty that the bailout would be successful; but it worked. The expectation of an immediate economic improvement, however slight, and even if the country were once again under the interventionist tutelage of the US Treasury Department and the International Monetary Fund, moved most Argentine voters who cast their ballots to consolidate a government that is trying to withdraw the South American nation from the BRICS bloc, which the previous government of Alberto Fernández brought it closer to, and threatens to reduce salaries and pensions, make further budget cuts to education, health and services to the population, deregulate competition to incentivize investment and hand over natural resources to transnational capital, mainly American.
It wasn’t a perfect victory, certainly. The abstention of 13 million voters who either didn’t go to the polls or spoiled their ballots came in second place, reflecting the disenchantment with the two opposing political factions; and the ruling party lost 5.13 million votes compared to those obtained by its coalition in 2023. In reality, the neoliberal movement garnered only 9.34 million votes (26% of the electorate), meaning that 74% of citizens do not actively support it or are opposed to it. Even so, its gains in the established powers are very significant and provide some relief to the government, which was cornered by the economic crisis and a very limited presence in the legislature.
Will this predatory victory be enough to truly save the country from crisis? Can La Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances) stabilize parliamentary and presidential control in the medium term, beyond this catastrophic situation? Will the draconian measures about to be implemented be turned against Milei? These are questions that will soon have to be answered. We also don’t yet know if Peronism can recover in the medium term, or if another left-wing option can be built outside of Peronism to confront the curse of Milei’s so-called libertarian capitalism in the future.
As in Bolivia, it seems highly unlikely that Milei’s reforms will stabilize the economy and pull Argentina out of its stagnation, which will almost certainly lead to intense social unrest. We will see many events unfold in the streets of Buenos Aires and throughout Argentina.
While it’s not clear that the US played a decisive role in Bolivia’s recent election results—rather, the economic crisis and the internal disintegration of the ruling group since 2006 were the factors—the context of the electoral struggles we’ve witnessed in recent weeks is one of increased pressure and sanctions from Washington on the governments of Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Colombia, which are not aligned with the United States. The deployment of the US Navy in the southern Caribbean and its lethal attacks on ships and speedboats that Donald Trump claims, without even attempting to prove it, were carrying drug shipments; and the unprecedented announcement that the CIA is conducting covert operations to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro, in addition to offering a $50 million reward for his capture by the US government, have placed the South American region in a highly tense situation.
The designation of Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups, the constant threat of imposing tariffs on more products and now the cancellation of air routes from AIFA, clearly demonstrate Trump’s intention to subject Claudia Sheinbaum’s government to his will and keep Mexico isolated from the influence of the BRICS and leftist governments in the Americas.
The pressure on Mexico continues unabated. The designation of Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups, the constant threat of imposing tariffs on more products—in addition to those already applied to steel, aluminum, copper, and others—and now the cancellation of air routes from Felipe Ángeles International Airport to various destinations in the United States, clearly demonstrate Trump’s intention to subject Claudia Sheinbaum’s government to his will and keep Mexico isolated from the influence of the BRICS and leftist governments in the Americas.
That is why the recently announced “relaunch” of the National Action Party (PAN) is no coincidence, as it foreshadows its clear alignment with governments and parties of the international far right, particularly with Trump’s Washington; and a search for alliances with other groups of this tendency in the country to capitalize on the discontent of a segment of the middle class with the policies of the so-called Fourth Transformation. It should not go unnoticed that U.S. Ambassador Ronald D. Johnson—a retired army colonel, former CIA agent, and former ambassador to El Salvador during Trump’s first term—, before presenting his credentials at the National Palace, attended a private dinner hosted by the prominent far-right figure Eduardo Verástegui and other opponents of the Mexican government. Nor should it be taken as an isolated fact that the despotic, tax-evading businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego is projecting himself as a clear protagonist in the upcoming electoral processes, if not as a candidate, then certainly by supporting with his economic and media resources the strengthening of the right and far-right opposition, a trend already entrenched within the official Morena party.
To date, it is true, the electoral presence of the radical right is limited. However, its economic, media, and social presence is not; and its growing activity in the political processes of the coming years is to be expected. Enveloped in scandals of corruption, ostentation, frivolity, and absenteeism among its legislators, and basking in the high popularity ratings that polls give to President Sheinbaum, Morena seems oblivious to what it will have to face in the near future.
Trump is Testing Plan to Send Troops to Mexico, According to NBC
November 3, 2025November 3, 2025
This article originally appeared in the November 3, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper. Washington. According to current and former U.S. officials, the administration of President Donald Trump began planning an operation to send troops and intelligence officers to Mexico to combat drug cartels, according to NBC. According to sources,…
People’s Mañanera November 3
November 3, 2025
President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference, with comments on murder of Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo, IMSS job numbers, Waldo’s tragedy, Michoacán security, relations with US, Mexico-US airline conflict, & livestock border issue.
Mexico in the Political Reconfiguration of Latin America
November 3, 2025
The electoral presence of the radical right is limited. However, its economic, media, and social presence is not; and its growing activity in the coming years is to be expected.
The post Mexico in the Political Reconfiguration of Latin America appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.
From Mexico Solidarity Media via this RSS feed
You must log in or # to comment.