Left and Center-Left Presidents in Latin America
For the 2nd edition of U.S. and Latin American Relations I am writing an entirely new chapter on the efforts to counter U.S. hegemony in the region. I thought it would be useful to have a table showing all the elections of left or center-left presidents since Hugo Chávez got the ball rolling. The list is pretty long and a reminder about how diverse the "left" really is. Even defining "center-left" can be tricky. If I have left something out, let me know.
Elections of Left or Center-Left Presidents
in Latin America, 1998-2014
|
Year
|
President
|
Country
|
|
1998
|
Hugo
Chávez
|
Venezuela
|
|
1999-2000
|
Ricardo
Lagos
|
Chile
|
|
2000
|
Hugo
Chávez (re-elected)
|
Venezuela
|
|
2002
|
Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva
|
Brazil
|
|
2003
|
Néstor
Kirchner
|
Argentina
|
|
2004
|
Tabaré
Vázquez
|
Uruguay
|
|
2005
|
Evo
Morales
|
Bolivia
|
|
2005
|
José
Manuel Zelaya
|
Honduras
|
|
2005-2006
|
Michelle
Bachelet
|
Chile
|
|
2006
|
Rafael
Correa
|
Ecuador
|
|
2006
|
Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva (re-elected)
|
Brazil
|
|
2006
|
Daniel
Ortega
|
Nicaragua
|
|
2006
|
Hugo
Chávez (re-election)
|
Venezuela
|
|
2007
|
Álvaro
Colom
|
Guatemala
|
|
2007
|
Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner
|
Argentina
|
|
2008
|
Fernando
Lugo
|
Paraguay
|
|
2009
|
José
Mujica
|
Uruguay
|
|
2009
|
Mauricio
Funes
|
El
Salvador
|
|
2009
|
Evo
Morales
|
Bolivia
|
|
2010
|
Dilma
Rousseff
|
Brazil
|
|
2011
|
Ollanta
Humala
|
Peru
|
|
2011
|
Daniel
Ortega (re-election)
|
Nicaragua
|
|
2011
|
Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner (re-election)
|
Argentina
|
|
2012
|
Hugo
Chávez (re-election
|
Venezuela
|
|
2013
|
Michelle
Bachelet (re-election)
|
Chile
|
|
2013
|
Nicolás
Maduro
|
Venezuela
|
|
2014
|
Salvador
Sánchez Cerén
|
El
Salvador
|
|
2014
|
Luis
Guillermo Solís
|
Costa
Rica
|
8 comments:
CFK turn to right in her 2011 reelection?
oops, corrected...
So many potential comments....
I'd like to know how you're defining "left" here. It would be good to have a definition besides a self-identifying ideology or "know it when I see it."
With that said, let's start here:
Rafael Correa has had a reeelection or two that should be on this list.
You have Bachelet as "reeelection" in 2013, but you don't have that for Ortega in 2006. Both are back in office after a gap (unless you aren't counting Ortega's election in the 1980's, which may be valid).
You also need to think through how people who shift ideologies should be categorized. Zelaya wasn't elected on a "leftist" platform in 2005 (few in Honduras would call the Liberal party a "leftist" party today), but shifted to the left over time. Humala was elected on a leftist platform but has moved right. Alan Garcia was a well known leftist until he wasn't and APRA is still a member of Socialist International. For that matter, both Fujimori and Menem (still a Peronist politician and ally of CFK!) were elected on leftwing platforms, before shifting right early in their terms. Should they be included too?
As you might guess, there is no single definition of "left." I am basically using the Levitsky & Roberts definition of having as a central programmatic objective, to reduce social and and economic inequalities.
Yes, I clearly omitted some re-elections. It makes sense to include Ortega if for no other reason to remind students that he was president before.
Zelaya is an interesting case given his original platform. He may need an asterisk or something, though I'll be discussing his case elsewhere in the book.
Even if Humala has moved right, he's clearly center-left.
I'd put Garcia in a category with Menem (who actually does not have an election in this time period) and Fujimori, which is that by the time of this election, he was not considered leftist, either by self-identification or public. Which is why Chavez opposed him.
If the definition includes platforms of traditionally center-left parties, why not add Panama's 2004 election of Martin Torrijos, or Costa Rica's Oscar Arias' return for 2nd term in 2006?
Recent PLD and PRD presidents in the DR?
I would argue that including Solis while leaving Arias or Torrijos is problematic, because Solis was elected on a mostly anti-corruption platform rather than a "left" one, especially if we compare him to Jose Maria Villalta.
Yes, Solis may well not be a good fit--I think including all stretches the concept so far that it becomes much less useful.
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