Apathy and Extremism in a Polarized Latin America
Chile’s election underlines an uncomfortable future for Democrats in the US with the quickly polarizing region
Another Latin American nation is moving fast toward extreme polarization. On November 21, far-right José Antonio Kast took a tiny two-point lead over leftist Gabriel Boric in Chile’s presidential election, which will make for a true nail-biter of a second round. Kast has been compared to American right-wing leaders, from Trump to Bolsonaro, as well as true, old-school fascism (by the Washington Post, no less). And he is a known supporter of Chile’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet.
But the major surprise in Chile, as in Brazil with Bolsonaro, Spain with Podemos and Vox, and Argentina’s libertarian far right, is that the traditional parties are giving way to polarization and new political forces. Chile’s traditional parties, which have alternated in power for years, came in fourth and fifth place in the election, each getting little more than 10% of the vote.
What happened to disrupt the system and fracture the two-party rule, and what does it mean to the United States in its relations with the region?
Let’s go through some of the reasons for the polarization first.
