The pink tide showed signs of resurging following a series of violent protests against
austerity measures and
income inequality scattered throughout
Latin America, including the
2019-2020 Chilean protests,
2019–2020 Colombian protests,
2018–19 Haitian protests, and the
2021 Colombian protests. This development was strengthened by the landslide victory of left-wing
MAS and its presidential candidate
Luis Arce in
Bolivia in the
2020 Bolivian general election. The trend continued throughout 2021, when multiple left wing leaders won elections in Latin America. In the
2021 Peruvian general election, Peru elected the indigenous, socialist union leader
Pedro Castillo. In November 2021,
Honduras elected leftist president
Xiomara Castro, and just weeks later, left-winger
Gabriel Boric won the
2021 Chilean election.
Argentina In 2021, at the request of
Bolivia, Argentine prosecutors filed charges against former president
Mauricio Macri, security minister
Patricia Bullrich, defense minister
Oscar Aguad and former Argentine ambassador to Bolivia
Normando Álvarez García for allegedly supporting the removal of
Evo Morales from power in November 2019. The
Argentine government of that time was also accused of sending
ammunition and weaponry to help the government of interim president
Jeanine Áñez suppress protests organized by Morales's supporters. It was also the first time when sectors linked to the two antagonistic sides, such as the left and the right, began to protest against the government over a common goal, holding caravans on January 23 and 24, 2021. On 8 January 2023, following the victory of
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the
Brazilian general elections of October 2022, supporters of the previous president,
Jair Bolsonaro, attacked the
Supreme Court of Brazil, the
National Congress of Brazil and the
Planalto Presidential Palace in the
Três Poderes Plaza in the capital,
Brasília. Senator
Veneziano Vital do Rêgo, interim president of the
Federal Senate, confirmed that rioters had breached the
Chamber of Deputies' Green Hall and attempted to enter the Planalto Palace. Lula was not in Brasília at the time of the attack, and neither was Bolsonaro, who left Brazil for
Orlando, United States, before Lula's inauguration.
Chile The
2019–2022 Chilean protests were a series of massive demonstrations and severe riots originated in
Santiago and spread to all regions of Chile. The protests have been considered the "worst civil unrest" having occurred in Chile since the end of
Augusto Pinochet's
military dictatorship due to the scale of damage to public infrastructure, the number of protesters, and the measures taken by the government. On 25 October 2019, over 1.2 million people took to the streets of Santiago to protest against social inequality, demanding President Piñera's resignation, in what was called as "
The biggest march of Chile." At least 29 people died, and nearly 2,500 were injured and 2,840 arrested. On 15 November 2019, Chile's National Congress signed an agreement to hold a
national referendum that would rewrite the constitution if it were to be approved. The referendum was rescheduled from April to October 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Chile. On 25 October 2020, Chileans voted 78.28 per cent in favor of a new constitution, while 21.72 per cent rejected the change. Voter turnout was 51 per cent. On 16 May 2021, the
election of the 155 Chileans who will form the
convention which will draft the new constitution was voted. On 21 December 2021, former students leader and constitutional agreement negotiator, 35-year old leftist
Gabriel Boric, was elected president of Chile in the
2021 Chilean presidential election with 55,86% of the vote.
Colombia The
2019–20 Colombian protests were a collection of protests that began on 21 November 2019. Hundreds of thousands of
Colombians demonstrated for various reasons. Some protested against various proposed economic and political reforms proposed by the
government of
Iván Duque Márquez, others against the few violent protestors and in favor of the
Colombian peace process, and other issues. Another
series of protests began in
Colombia on 28 April 2021 against increased taxes and health care reform proposed by the government of
President Márquez. After the
presidential elections on 29 May 2022, with a
runoff on 19 June 2022,
Gustavo Petro, a
senator and former
Mayor of Bogota, defeated
Rodolfo Hernández Suárez, former mayor of
Bucaramanga, in the runoff election. Petro's victory made him the first
left-wing candidate to be elected
president of Colombia. Petro, a former
AD/M-19 member, was chosen as a candidate of the
Historic Pact for Colombia alliance. Petro's left-wing platform encompassed support for
land reform,
universal health care, continuing the
Colombian peace process, and expanding
social services.
Ecuador On 7 April 2020, The Criminal Court of the National Court of Justice found the former president
Rafael Correa guilty of aggravated passive bribery in 2012–2016. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison
in absentia for leading the corruption network that between 2012 and 2016 received "undue contributions" at to finance his political movement in exchange for awarding state contracts to businessmen along with Alexis Mera, former Judiciary Secretary of the Presidency, former Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, María de los Angeles Duarte, former congresswoman Viviana Bonilla and former Constitutional Judge and his secretary Pamela Martínez. A
series of protests against the economic policies of
Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso, triggered by increasing fuel and food prices, began on 13 June 2022. Initiated by and primarily attended by Indigenous activists, in particular the
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the protests were joined by students and workers who have also been affected by the price increases. Lasso condemned the protests and labelled them as an attempted "
coup d'état" against his government. A
political crisis began in
Ecuador on 17 May 2023 as a result of the impeachment trial against President
Guillermo Lasso. The impeachment inquiry began in the
National Assembly on 9 May and lasted until 17 May when Lasso dissolved parliament through the constitutional provision known as
muerte cruzada ("mutual death"). This triggered the end of the impeachment inquiry as it dissolved the National Assembly and caused an earlier
general election. This was the first time an
Ecuadorian president had used this constitutional measure.
Peru During the
COVID-19 pandemic in Peru, President
Vizcarra instituted stay-at-home orders and issued relief funds, but existing inequality, overcrowding and a largely informal economy saw Peru being heavily affected by the pandemic. As a result, Peru's
gross domestic product declined thirty percent, increasing political pressure on Vizcarra's government. In September 2020, Congress
opened impeachment proceedings against Vizcarra on grounds of "moral incapacity", accusing him of
influence peddling after audio recordings were released by an opposition legislator, but the process did not receive enough votes to remove him from office. On 9 November 2020, the Peruvian Congress
impeached Vizcarra a second time, after declaring him "morally incompetent"; he was removed from office. The president of Congress,
Manuel Merino, succeeded him as President of Peru the following day. Vizcarra's removal from office was seen as a
coup by many Peruvians, political analysts and media outlets in the country, resulting in the beginning of the
2020 Peruvian protests. Following the deaths of protesters, Merino resigned after only five days. The new president chosen by the legislature was
Francisco Sagasti, a former
World Bank official characterised as a "centrist technocrat". After the
2021 Peruvian general election won by
Pedro Castillo, the candidate of the
Marxist Free Peru party, runner-up
Keiko Fujimori disseminated claims of
electoral fraud. Observers from the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations, the
Organization of American States, and the
Progressive International denied any instances of widespread fraud and praised the accuracy of the elections. A letter signed by almost one-hundred retired officers of the Peruvian armed forces was written calling on current military leaders in Peru to refuse recognizing the election of Castillo into the presidency. President
Francisco Sagasti condemned the letter, stating: "They want to incite top commanders of the Army, Navy, and Air force to break the rule of law." The act was recognized by politicians, the
Constitutional Court of Peru and media as a
coup d'état, with some comparing it to the
autogolpe of
Alberto Fujimori during the
1992 Peruvian self-coup d'état. Numerous members of Castillo's government resigned from their positions shortly after he announced the dissolution of Congress, and the
Peruvian Armed Forces also refused to support his actions.
Venezuela The
Crisis in Venezuela and
its presidential crisis continued in 2020. On 5 January, the
2020 Venezuelan National Assembly Delegated Committee election was disputed between
Luis Parra and opposition leader
Juan Guaidó. On 19 January, Guaidó left Venezuela and arrived in Colombia, planning to meet with
Mike Pompeo, as well as traveling to Europe and the United States later. On 26 March, the
Department of State declared a $15 million bounty on
Nicolás Maduro, as well as $10 million each on
Diosdado Cabello,
Hugo Carvajal,
Clíver Alcalá Cordones and
Tareck El Aissami, for charges of
drug trafficking and
narco-terrorism. Following this, Clíver Alcalá, a former general residing in Colombia, published a video claiming responsibility for a stockpile of weapons and military equipment seized in Colombia. According to Alcalá, he had made a contract with Guaidó and "American advisers" in order to buy weapons to remove Maduro. After wishing farewell to his family, Alcalá surrendered to US authorities on 27 March. On 3 May, eight former Venezuelan soldiers were killed and seventeen rebels were
captured on 3 May, including two American security contractors, after approximately 60 men
landed in Macuto and tried to invade Venezuela. The members of the naval attack force were employed as
private military contractors by
Silvercorp USA and the operation aimed to depose Maduro from power. ==Oceania==