Supporters of Argentina's President Mauricio Macri stand outside the National Congress as the President opens the 2016 session of Congress for his annual State of the Nation address, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko
South America is experiencing the end of a cycle. Especially the countries that for more than a decade have represented more vividly the onset of change. In Argentina, Kirchnerism has been defeated; in Venezuela, Chavismo is dying; in Ecuador, Rafael Correa has already announced that he will not be running at the next elections; in Bolivia, Evo Morales suffered his first major setback at the referendum to amend the constitution; and Brazil is adrift, with Dilma Rousseff under the threat of impeachment and Lula Da Silva being “forced” back to frontline politics.
Undoubtedly, the fall in international commodity prices is behind this shift, especially in countries heavily reliant on raw materials, but there are other erosioning internal factors at play. After several decades in power, the governments are involved in a "bunkerization" process which has caused the estrangement of their bases. It is not surprising, therefore, that the movements that propped them are now withdrawing their support. Within this disconnection, the wearing away of an element that had hitherto been a key one is particularly noteworthy: the discourse.
