Latin America exploded again. For months the region has been convulsed again by a new cycle of protests. For decades, the social tensions caused by neoliberalism and populism have remained unresolved. Latin America is the most unequal and violent continent in the world. Suddenly the covers of different newspapers ask: What is happening in Latin America? Given the socio-economic conditions established by neoliberalism in the region and the failures of populist governments, one should ask why do the protests should stop?
Latin American society is a social earthquake that no one can foresee when, or where, or with what intensity it will explode. Most of its inhabitants live in frustration and a state of permanent exasperation. In Chile, for example, 60% of its population gets into debt to cover their necessary expenses for the month. Any political decision takes by governments the pockets of workers can trigger the protest. In Ecuador, current President Lenin Moreno decided to withdraw the fuel subsidy to comply with an austerity program agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile, had decreed an increase of 30 pesos of the subway ticket.
The end of the progressive cycle
The protests in Haiti, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia or Bolivia express not only a crisis of political legitimacy of the different governments, but of the democracy in the region. The Latin American population is losing confidence in democracy as a political system to solve their economic problems and to guarantee access to quality public services (education, health, security, transportation). In Chile, the mobilizations demand a reform of the Constitution (1980) inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship. In Bolivia, the coup d'état that ousted Evo Morales unleashed a wave of protests in defence of social gains and indigenous recognition achieved after 14 years of rule of the Movement to Socialism (MAS).
