Brazil Protests and the Latin American Left

I was interviewed in this NPR story by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro on the protests in Brazil. She wanted to look at it from a regional perspective. My take is that the end of the commodity boom is putting tremendous pressure on governments that have maintained high spending. Governments have to adjust expectations (which is what I think has happened over time in Bolivia) or lose elections. What I didn't get a chance to talk about, though, is the role of the opposition. Where it is poorly organized those governments on the left have more leeway. Dilma Rousseff is in a better position because the opposition has become more organized but she just won an election.