Judging from the latest polls, we may see a major turn to the left in Latin America’s political map: The two largest countries in the region — Mexico and Brazil — may soon have leftist presidents.
In Mexico, President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will take office December 1, becoming the country’s first leftist leader in decades. In Brazil, there is growing speculation that leftist candidate Fernando Haddad will make it to a runoff election in October and take office on January 1.
Granted, it’s somewhat outdated to talk about “left” and “right” in today’s world. At a time when the biggest Communist country, China, practices the most unbridled capitalism — call it capitalism without the right to strike, if you want — the old labels of “left” and “right” have lost much of their meaning.