Latin America experienced shifting political waves: progressive left governments initially reduced poverty through expansive spending, faced international economic headwinds and right-wing backlash, enabling conservative returns; a second leftist wave emerged around 2018 but faced fiscal constraints and renewed right-wing pressure.
Bolivia's mining groups and rural unions staged antigovernment protests with small explosions in La Paz, demanding President Rodrigo Paz's resignation amid the country's worst economic crisis in decades, marked by fuel shortages and soaring inflation.
Libertarian candidate Abelardo de la Espriella's Colombian presidential victory consolidates a seventh right-wing government across South America, reflecting voter frustration with economic instability and insecurity rather than ideological shifts, analysts say.
Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz enacted an emergency law after seven months in power, blaming narcoterrorists for five weeks of protests by workers and farmers that caused severe shortages and doubled food prices in major cities.