The Left Aims for an Andean Comeback
Elections in Peru and Colombia and riots in Bolivia test Latin American democracy.
By Mary Anastasia O’Grady
The Latin American left has been losing its grip on power for more than two years.
Defeats of incumbent socialist parties at the ballot box in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Honduras have sent shock waves through collectivist networks across the hemisphere.
So too the death rattle coming from the communist Cuban dictatorship.
In the Marxist playbook, the proper response to these setbacks is “To the barricades!”
Three Andean countries are the hottest targets.
In the spotlight this week is Peru, which holds a presidential runoff election June 7.
The contest pits hard-left socialist Congressman Roberto Sánchez against center-right Keiko Fujimori, a daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori.
There’s a lot riding on this race for an aspiring nation.
Despite its reputation for political instability, Peru’s shift over the past 20 years toward policies that support open markets, private initiative and macroeconomic stability has dramatically improved living standards.
The share of Peruvians living below the poverty line fell to 25.7% in 2025 from 58.7% in 2004.
Mr. Sánchez promises to destroy that model, whereas Ms. Fujimori is expected largely to defend it.
There’s also a lot at stake for the likes of Grupo de Puebla, a club of high-profile leftists desperate to avoid another Latin loss to democratic capitalism.
Its members include former Bolivian President Evo Morales, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva and former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero, who was recently indicted by a Spanish court for money laundering and influence peddling. Mr. Zapatero denies wrongdoing.
Grupo de Puebla supports Mr. Sánchez’s far-left ideological prescriptions for Peru.
Mr. Sánchez doesn’t hide his radicalism.
In 2021 he wrote a letter of solidarity to Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Mr. Sánchez was minister of foreign trade and tourism for Peru’s former President Pedro Castillo, who was constitutionally removed from office for trying to dissolve Congress.
He has endorsed Mr. Sánchez from prison.
Other powerful Sánchez allies include the illegal gold-mining interests that threaten the property rights of lawful mining companies, an important engine of growth for Peru.
The vote next Sunday is expected to be close.
In Bolivia, the left is trying to topple centrist President Rodrigo Paz.
His election victory last year stunned Grupo de Puebla member Evo Morales, his Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party and the coca-growers’ union that he heads.
Now anti-Paz agents are clashing with police, blocking highways and paralyzing the economy.
We’ve seen this film before.
Democratically elected President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was driven from office in 2003 by leftist mobs using roadblocks and dynamite to lay siege to cities around the country.
Mr. Morales helped lead those protests.
More violence drove out Mr. Sánchez de Lozada’s constitutional successor.
Mr. Morales was elected in 2005 but ruled the country like a dictator for nearly 14 years, packing the courts and jailing his opponents without due process.
He rewrote the constitution and locked out opposition lawmakers when the Legislative Assembly held the vote to ratify it.
When he was caught in electoral fraud in 2019, he was forced to resign.
The MAS party returned to the presidency for another five years in 2020 under President Luis Arce.
Out of power again, Mr. Morales and MAS have returned to their old ways.
Colombia held a presidential election on Sunday.
Hard-left Pacto Histórico President Gustavo Petro is barred from a second consecutive term.
His party’s candidate, Iván Cepeda, is equally extreme.
Mr. Cepeda was up against a formidable outsider from the right, Abelardo de la Espriella, along with centrist Paloma Valencia, who was backed by former President Álvaro Uribe, and 11 other candidates.
Ahead of the vote, Mr. de la Espriella had the momentum.
Mr. Cepeda had polled as high as 45%.
But in an AtlasIntel poll taken May 18-21, support for the government’s candidate fell to 38.7% while Mr. de la Espriella, who is running on a platform of beefed-up security and smaller government, had surged to 37.3%.
Ms. Valencia had dropped to 14.3%.
In the event Mr. de la Espriella surprised pollsters by finishing first with 43.7% of the vote while Mr. Cepeda finished second with 40.9%.
But since neither received more than 50% of votes cast, there will be a June 21 runoff.
In a second round, most polls have found that a majority of voters prefer anybody but Mr. Cepeda.
But there are plenty of wild cards.
Intimidation is a favorite tool of organized crime, and the campaign has been marred by violence against the right.
Presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe—no relation to the former president—was assassinated last year, and two campaign advisers for Mr. de la Espriella were gunned down in May.
Many municipalities are controlled by illegal armed groups that back Mr. Cepeda and effectively run rural polling stations.
Mr. Petro raised the minimum wage by 23% in January, and he’s been good for coca growers.
Those are both pluses for Mr. Cepeda.
On the other hand, it may be that Colombians want their country back.
Mary Anastasia O'Grady writes "The Americas," a weekly column on politics, economics and business in Latin America and Canada that appears every Monday in the Journal.
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