In discussing the victory of a center-right candidate over his center-left opponent, the NYT told readers that: “The winner, Sebastián Piñera, 60, joins Alan García of Peru, Felipe Calderón of Mexico and Álvaro Uribe of Colombia as clearly right-wing leaders presiding over major Latin American countries, where left-wing candidates with socialist agendas have held more sway in recent years.” While a leftist candidate arguably won the actual vote in the last presidential election in Mexico, the government has been in the hands of the center-right for decades. The same is true of Colombia. The current president of Peru, Alan Garcia, could be described as left-wing when we was first elected in the 80s, but this was more than a quarter century ago. In short, there is no evidence, at least in these three countries, of left-wing governments being replaced by more conservative ones in recent years.

–Dean Baker

Dean Baker is senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. Read more about Dean.