Uruguay became the latest South American country to have shifted to the right with the inauguration of conservative Luis Lacalle Pou as president, ending 15 years of left-wing rule.
Lacalle Pou, 46, the son of a former president, won election in November by a slim margin, defeating the candidate of the Broad Front. He will lead a government made up of a coalition of five political parties. He has been in discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to sign a free trade agreement, which would mark a new direction in relation with the global superpower.
As well as tackling crime and reenergizing the economy, Lacalle Pou has announced he will implement radical changes in Uruguay's foreign policy, taking a harder stance against President Nicolas Maduro's regime in Venezuela and intensifying relations with the U.S. The move will reverse current Uruguayan policy that, contrary to the majority of Latin American governments, recognizes embattled Maduro as Venezuela's president. He has broken with Uruguay's previous foreign policy norms, declaring the presidents of Venezuela and Cuba to be "dictators."
The point is evident in the list of invitees with right-wing presidents Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Colombia's Ivan Duque, Sebastian Pinera of Chile and Paraguay's Mario Abdo Benitez joining King Felipe VI of Spain at the inauguration ceremony. The left-wing leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have not been invited.
Now, he faces a delicate balancing act between his two powerful and ideologically opposed neighbors, Brazil and Argentina, where left-leaning Peronist Alberto Fernandez recently took office.
Given the conservative governments of Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay and lately Uruguay, questions have been raised over an apparent surge of right-wing conservatism across Latin America. The resignation of Bolivian President Evo Morales in November 2019, the last serving member of the "pink tide" of leftist leaders that swept Latin America two decades ago, polarized governments across the region. Morales ended his 14-year rule after allies deserted him following weeks of protests over a disputed Oct. 20 election that has roiled the Andean nation.
Morales became president in 2006, joining Chavez, Argentina's Nestor Kirchner and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a left-wing surge across the continent. The end of a long commodities boom in Latin America saw some left-leaning governments replaced by conservative administrations.
However, since 2018, anger at corruption, inequality and poverty has pushed conservatives out in Mexico and Argentina, while fueling protests in recent weeks that forced governments in Ecuador and Chile to water down liberal economic policies.
