It is well-known that leftist ideologies have an inherently expansionist character by definition. Each of its militants have –or at least, shall have- the passionate desire of expanding the glory of the Revolution around the world to liberate the people -of what they consider- the capitalist oppression to build the promised utopian world without poverty or inequality.
The Latin American left was not the exception. It executed a powerful expansion plan led by Cuba to influence and dominate the region and create a new regional socialist bloc that serves the interests of the World Revolution as described in the Marxist thought: The Forum of Sao Paulo, founded in 1990 by Fidel Castro and Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva (Today, in jail for corruption) had the purpose of multiplying the axes of socialist confrontation as a response to defeat after the fall of the Wall of Berlin and the accelerated collapse of the USSR that would leave the Latin American left unprotected and orphaned.
The Sao Paolo Forum received a decent amount of popular support due to the sour memories of American interventionism in the region. It brought together all the left-wing groups, social movements, unions and parties of the of the region. However, it was not a conventional union of similar-ideology parties, as there was another very special element present in the equation: Since its origins, the Sao Paolo Forum was aimed to become a truly mutually-supporting movement with the ambition to take power in every Latin American country, one by one.
They did it, or at least to some extent: At the time of its founding on 1990, the only country where the left governed was Cuba. Twenty years later, the overwhelming majority of Latin American countries now had a socialist or left-winged government, as during the years, the Forum members worked together to induce the emergence of populist movements in the region aimed to conquer the hearts and minds of the population that eventually led them to take power via peaceful and legal elections, at the right time.
The election of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela on 1998 represented the first triumph of the Latin American left in decades and the first elected member of the Sao Paulo Forum, after Cuba. Shortly after that, followed the triumph of Lula Da Silva in Brazil on 2002, Néstor Kirchner in Argentina on 2003, Tabaré Vázquez in Uruguay on 2004, Roosevelt Skerrit in Dominica on 2004, Evo Morales in Bolivia on 2005, Michelle Bachelet in Chile on 2006, Rafael Correa in Ecuador on 2006, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua on 2006, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay on 2008, José Mujica in Uruguay on 2009, Mauricio Funes in El Salvador on 2009, Ollanta Humala in Peru on 2011, Danilo Medina in the Dominican Republic on 2012 , and recently Mexico, on 2018 with the victory of López Obrador.
As we see, the left effectively accomplished regional domination during the last two decades. However, the terrible accusations of corruption, the collapse of the socialist project in Venezuela and Brazil, and many geopolitical factors led by the US to recover its influence on the region have gradually produced the collapse of the Sao Paolo project. After gradually losing the power in almost all of Latin America, the left now clings mainly to the weak Venezuela Maduro’s regime and the governments of Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia and now Mexico as the last bastions of Marxist struggle in the region.
How did the Latin American Left took over the region?
When Fidel Castro came to power on 1958 and declared the beginning of the Revolution, Cuba gradually became a strategic card of the USSR for global domination. During the Cold War, Cuba organized and led numerous military interventions in Latin America and Africa to implement the global Marxist Revolution. This political experience was invaluable for the implementation of the Sao Paulo Forum Plan.
After the collapse of the USSR, the Republic of Cuba faced a terrible economic crisis due to the loss of the Soviet aid that practically made possible the economic activities of the island. The terrible living conditions induced a popular revolt against Castro supported by the US on 1994 (called “El Maleconazo”) that put at risk the only socialist government in the region.
After surviving this tough challenge, Fidel Castro understood that political times had changed and military adventures were not the way to implement the global revolution: A new strategy was needed to survive, and it was the electoral path. “The Revolution” should participate in the so-perceived corrupt bourgeois electoral apparatus of the Latin American State with the help of charismatic leader to conquer power in a democratic way. Once there, the leader –loyal to Cuba- would proceed to destroy all the capitalist institutions and would gradually implement the revolution with the applause of the masses.
It wasn’t very hard at all, as the populist leaders of the left found a very fertile ground to win the support of the masses thanks to two factors: the deep popular resentment against the US and other “imperialist forces” after decades of continuous political and military interventions in the region, and the fact that the main academic spheres and elites of Latin American Universities were dominated by Marxist ideas due to the silent ideological intervention of the USSR during the Cold War. Almost every teacher had to be a communist –or at least pretend to be so- in order to be effectively socially accepted in the academic elites. An evidence of this fact is that the main writers, thinkers and cultural artists of the region -such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez and Eduardo Galeano- have openly said they have a communist-oriented ideology.
When everything seemed to be the end for the Cuban regime after the collapse of USSR, a stroke of good luck appears on Fidel Castro’s side: An unexpected ally like Hugo Chávez was able to take advantage of the popular discontent and took the power of Venezuela. President Chavez describe himself as “super fan” of Fidel Castro and immediately put the billions of dollars of Venezuelan oil revenues at the service of Cuba and the project of the Sao Paulo Forum.
The government of Hugo Chávez, under Cuban influence, silently financed numerous electoral campaigns in the region to take the left to power, as it was discovered in Argentina with the Antonini-Wilson scandal when Argentinian authorities intercepted a Venezuelan government briefcase containing 800,000 US $ to finance the political presidential candidacy of Kirchner –who eventually won the elections-. There are similar accusations throughout the region, as numerous opposition parties the Venezuelan government of Chavez – and now Maduro- as the perpetrators of the proliferation of socialist regimes throughout the region.
Moreover, with the advice of Cuba, the Venezuelan regime founded PetroCaribe, an economic agreement with the Central American nations and islands where Venezuela basically gives-out its oil in exchange of unconditional political support for the Forum, which provides the socialist allies a dozen “safe votes” in the UN and the OAS that still remain to this day.
With the political intelligence of Cuba inherited from the USSR, and the billions of dollars wasted by the loyal government of Venezuela, by the end of 2012 the Sao Paulo Forum was able to democratically conquer power in practically the entire continent, with the exception of Colombia, Mexico, the US and Canada. It was the end of the USA control over the region … Or at least, it seemed so.
What goes up… Must come down
The Latin American left reached its peak in the decade of 2010. The Venezuelan government was in charge of building new bridges with numerous anti-Western actors with whom it shared the anti-imperialist sentiment. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela eventually became a radical center of operations to counter the US influence in the heart of the Western hemisphere. The government of Chavez – and now Maduro – isolated itself from North America and gradually stablished very close ties with Russia, China, Belarus, North Korea, Iran, Hezbollah and Syria.
Most of the Latin countries followed – to a lesser extent – the Venezuelan example, distancing themselves from the US and cautiously approaching China and Russia under the impotent gaze of Obama. By seizing control of almost all governments in the region, the socialist leaders led by Cuba and Venezuela felt powerful enough to create many parallel “anti-imperialist” regional organizations without the presence of the US or Canada to displace the OAS, such as ALBA, CELAC and Unasur.
These were very hard times for the United States, as the numerous years of continuous intervention in the region produced a clan of rebellious neighbors united against the US’s interest, who were willing to open the doors to numerous anti-Western agents to counteract their international influence. The US now had the enemy at its own doors.
Again, another stroke of luck –this time bad luck- hit the Cuban dominance plan. Ironically, just as it was the arrival of Chávez determined the consolidation of the Sao Paulo Forum, his unexpected death in 2013 seems to be the reason of its collapse: After Chavez’s successor, Nicolas Maduro, came to power the socialist-model economy of Venezuela collapsed produced and astronomical crisis. This fact, added to the multiple accusations of corruption of the socialist leaders in almost all the countries of the region produced an awakening in the population.
After Chavez’s death, Venezuela immediately became “El Coco” (the Bogeyman) of the region, producing kind of a popular fright among many Latin Americans who feared what would be the fate of their respective countries if socialism was still in power following the Venezuelan model. That fear was wisely capitalized by the respective opposition movements that convinced their voters with the idea that “we will become Venezuela” if they do not overthrow their corrupt left-winged governments.
This way, the members of the Forum has been falling one by one over the last 2 years and the region is gradually returning to the arms of the USA and right-wing populism: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and part of Central America abandoned its socialist past. Ironically, they are now closely working together with the US and the OAS –via the Lima Group- to overthrow the Venezuelan hardline socialist regime, whose collapse could greatly weaken Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua, which are the last leftist governments of the region.
However, there is a last hope for Cuban regime: A new powerful ally that emerged just as unexpectedly as Venezuela on 1998, the new Mexican government leaded by socialist Lopez Obrador who declared himself a loyal follower of Fidel Castro and Chavez. After Cuban regime squeezed-out all of Venezuela’s resources to implement their target, Mexico seems to be the next one in the list. Meanwhile, the only thing certain for now is that hard times are coming for the Left after the honeymoon that USA of Trump is enjoying with the region.