Latin America’s leaders will have plenty of headaches
For latin america´s leaders 2021 will be about steering economic recovery while fending off a debt crisis and trying to persuade their citizens that democracy can still deliver results. What are the prospects around the region? With populations ravaged by covid-19 despite long lockdowns, many countries may have some degree of “herd immunity”.
But the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic will linger: after economies contracted by 8% or so in 2020, Latin America will have some 40m “new poor”, taking those living in poverty to at least one in three of the population. Frustrations will show up in street protests—watch Argentina and Colombia in particular—and the threat of populist victories in elections.
Armies may be called upon to play a more prominent role in enforcing order and propping up governments, though many will be reluctant. Even so, democracy, predominant in the region since the 1980s, could succumb in some places. Look out for El Salvador’s authoritarian president, Nayib Bukele, in that regard.
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