Pink tide

Not to be confused with red tide or Crimson Tide.

Rafael Correa, Evo Morales, Néstor Kirchner, Cristina Fernández, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Nicanor Duarte, and Hugo Chávez at the signing of the founding charter of the Bank of the South

The term "pink tide" (Spanish: marea rosa, Portuguese: onda rosa) or "turn to the Left" (Sp.: vuelta hacia la izquierda, Pt.: Guinada à Esquerda) are phrases used in contemporary 21st century political analysis in the media and elsewhere to describe the perception that anti-Americanism, leftist ideology and left-wing politics in particular, were increasingly becoming influential in Latin America under authoritarian regimes primarily between 1998 and 2009.

The Latin American countries viewed as part of this ideological trend have been referred to as "Pink Tide nations". The term Post-neoliberalism has been used as a term to refer to the Pink Tide.

Background

Following the end of the Cold War, the United States promoted economic policies dubbed the "Washington consensus", urging developing countries to adopt free market economies and to be more democratic. According to the BBC, a "common element of the 'pink tide' is a clean break with what was known at the outset of the 1990s as the 'Washington consensus', the mixture of open markets and privatisation pushed by the United States". With the difficulties facing emerging markets across the world at the time, Latin Americans turned away from the liberal economics and used the promoted democracy to elect leftist leaders, with nearly half of a dozen elected governments turning to authoritarianism. With China becoming a more industrialized nation at the same time and requiring resources for its growing economy, it took advantage of the strained relations with the United States and partnered with the leftist governments.

According to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a pink tide president herself, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela (inaugurated 1999), Lula da Silva of Brazil (inaugurated 2003) and Evo Morales of Bolivia (inaugurated 2006) were "the three musketeers" of the left in South America. By 2005, the BBC reported that out of 350 million people in South America, three out of four of them lived in countries ruled by "left-leaning presidents" elected during the preceding six years.

Use of the term

The term "pink tide" has become prominent in contemporary discussion of Latin American politics. Origins of the term may be linked to a statement by Larry Rohter, a New York Times reporter in Montevideo who characterized the election of Tabaré Vázquez as leader of Uruguay as "not so much a red tide…as a pink one." The term seems to be a play on words based on "red tide" (a biological phenomenon rather than a political one) with "red" – a color long associated with communism – being replaced with the lighter tone of "pink" to indicate the more moderate communist and socialist ideas gaining strength.

Despite the presence of a number of Latin American governments which profess to embracing a leftist ideology, it is difficult to categorize Latin American states "according to dominant political tendencies, like a red-blue post-electoral map of the United States." According to the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal non-profit think-tank based in Washington, D.C.:

…a deeper analysis of elections in Ecuador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Mexico indicates that the "pink tide" interpretation—that a diluted trend leftward is sweeping the continent—may be insufficient to understand the complexity of what's really taking place in each country and the region as a whole.

While this political shift is difficult to quantify, its effects are widely noticed. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, 2006 meetings of the South American Summit of Nations and the Social Forum for the Integration of Peoples demonstrated that certain discussions that "used to take place on the margins of the dominant discourse of neoliberalism, (have) now moved to the center of public debate."

Reaction

According to a report from the Inter Press Service news agency:

…elections results in Latin America appear to have confirmed a left-wing populist and anti-U.S. trend – the so-called “pink tide” – which, along with the recent disclosures regarding ties between right-wing paramilitaries and the government of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, poses serious threats to Washington's multi-billion-dollar anti-drug effort in the Andes.

Decline

To a certain extent, I think the left has exhausted itself in many parts of Latin America ... The citizenry has begun to see the excesses we saw in Argentina, the stagnation we are seeing in Brazil, or, in the case of Venezuela, the absolute failure of an incumbent party.

David Shirk, University of San Diego

Hugo Chávez, who had "dreams of continental domination", was seen as a threat to his own people according to Michael Reid in Foreign Affairs, with his influence reaching a peak in 2007. The interest in Chávez waned after his dependence of oil revenue led Venezuela into an economic crisis and as he grew increasingly authoritarian. The death of Hugo Chávez in 2013 left the most radical wing without a clear leader, as Nicolás Maduro did not have the same international influence of his predecessor. National policies among the left are divided between the styles of Chávez and Lula da Silva, as Lula focused on the poor people but also in private enterprises and global capital. In 2015, the shift away from the left became more pronounced in Latin America. With The Economist saying the Pink Tide had ebbed and Vice News stating that 2015 was "The Year the 'Pink Tide' Turned".

Corruption and protests

Leftist governments like their right-leaning preceding governments became ensnarled in corruption as well. From 2014 into 2016, multiple protests occurred against leftist governments. In Venezuela, the 2014–16 Venezuelan protests occurred due to socioeconomic problems and corruption. The 2014–15 Nicaraguan protests occurred due to actions performed by President Ortega and the construction of the Nicaragua Canal. Millions of Brazilians participated in the 2015–16 protests over corruption surrounding President Rousseff and Lula da Silva, while demanding Rousseff's impeachment. The 2015 Ecuadorian protests occurred when Ecuadorians began to disapprove of actions made by President Correa.

Economy

Economic hardships occurred in countries such as Brazil and Venezuela as oil and commodity prices declined. With leftist governments spending largely on their populist social policies, they failed to save money for a potential drop in commodity prices and saw their economies falter as a result.

According to President of Inter-American Dialogue, Michael Shifter regarding the economic situation:

You’re seeing this wave or tide or whatever you want to call it has run its course. They don’t have the economic sustenance to continue ... This kind of fiery leftist rhetoric was a function of the economic situation, and that has changed dramatically for many of these countries".

The United States–Cuban Thaw occurred with Cuba reapproaching the United States when Cuba's main international partner, Venezuela, began experiencing economic hardships.

Public support and elections

Leftist leaders saw a sharp decline of support with Brazil's Dilma Rousseff approval dropping to 9% as of July 2015, Peru's Ollanta Humala at 14% as of October 2015, Chile's Michelle Bachelet near 24% as of September 2015 and Nicolás Maduro at 24.3% in July 2015.

Elections also signified the decline of the Pink Tide. Due to lack of public support, Ecuador's Rafael Correa decided not to pursue reelection. The election of the center-right Mauricio Macri in November 2015 as President of Argentina brought a right-wing government to power, although the populist movements of Peronism and Kirchnerismo (tied to its leader Fernández de Kirchner's popularity) remain strong generally. In Venezuela, the opposition electoral coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable won a 2/3 supermajority of the Venezuelan National Assembly the 2015 Venezuelan parliamentary election a month after the election of Macri in December 2015. In a referendum held on 21 February 2016 voters rejected, by a narrow margin, a constitutional amendment to allow Bolivian President Evo Morales to run for a fourth term as president. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski won the 2016 Peruvian elections, and becomes yet another country that departs from a centre-left government.

Presidents elected

Below are Left-wing and Centre-left presidents elected in Latin America since 1990 Note: Centre-left presidents are marked with *

• Nicaragua: Daniel Ortega (1979–1990, 2007–present)
• Chile: Patricio Aylwin* (1990–1994), Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle* (1994-2000), Ricardo Lagos* (2000–2006), Michelle Bachelet* (2006–2010, 2014–present)
• Dominican Republic: Leonel Fernández* (1996–2000, 2004–2012), Danilo Medina* (2012–present)
• Venezuela: Hugo Chávez (1999–2013), Nicolás Maduro (2013–present)
• Argentina: Néstor Kirchner* (2003–2007), Cristina Fernández de Kirchner* (2007–2015)
• Brazil: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva* (2003–2011), Dilma Rousseff* (2011–present)
• Uruguay: Tabaré Vázquez* (2005–2010, 2015–present), José Mujica* (2010–2015)
• Bolivia: Evo Morales (2006–present)
• Honduras: Manuel Zelaya* (2006–2009)
• Ecuador: Rafael Correa (2007–present)
• Guatemala: Álvaro Colom* (2008–2012)
• Paraguay: Fernando Lugo (2008–2012)
• El Salvador: Mauricio Funes* (2009–2014), Salvador Sánchez Cerén* (2014–present)
• Peru: Ollanta Humala* (2011–2016)
• Costa Rica: Luis Guillermo Solís* (2014–present)

Timeline

See also

• Bolivarianism
• Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas
• Foro de São Paulo
• History of Latin America
• Kirchnerism
• Latin American drug legalization
• Latin American integration
• Pan-Americanism
• Socialism of the 21st century

Further reading

• "Latin America after 9/11: Geopolitics and the Pink Tide", John Beverley, Berfrois, 6 January 2012
• Karin Fischer & Dieter Plehwe: The "Pink Tide" and Neoliberal Civil Society Formation, State of Nature, 2013.